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'The dates mentioned in Geoffrey Lehmann's new book remind us that in the early postwar period Australian literature was enriched by the work of widely respected poets such as Judith Wright, A.D. Hope, James McAuley, David Campbell, Rosemary Dobson and Gwen Harwood. Then, towards the end of the 1950s, a younger and equally talented generation began to make its presence felt.' (Publication abstract)
'There are essentially two kinds of novel set in the past. In the first, we follow the fortunes of a real person, such as Henry VIII's Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell, the protagonist of Hilary Mantel's celebrated trilogy. This is a flexible genre, in which the portrait does not have to be accurate to be convincing: witness Peter Carey's brilliant impersonation of Ned Kelly in The True History of the Kelly Gang. These works stand or fall according to the psychological interest they create.' (Publication summary)