'The title of the essay refers to three capacious, continuous evolving and contentious subjects. It also initiates an inquiry: why is it that Tim Winton, one of Australia's most popular and literary (let the debates begin) novelists, as received little sustained critical attention? We hope that the existence of this volume, the first collection of critical essays since Reading Tim Winton (1993), will begin to redress the relative dearth of critical debate about the literature of Tim Winton. But this is to pre-empt the inquiry into what might be meant by 'the literary' and by 'literary criticism' (let alone 'Tim Winton'). The title and the subject of this introductory essay are, therefore, genuinely seeking debate.' (Authors introduction 1)