Regionalism in Australian Literature (ENGL3701)
Semester 2 / 2015

Texts

y separately published work icon Journey to the Stone Country Alex Miller , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2002 Z982836 2002 single work novel (taught in 3 units) 'Betrayed by her husband, Annabelle Beck retreats from Melbourne to her old family home in tropical North Queensland where she meets Bo Rennie, one of the Jangga tribe. Intrigued by Bo's claim that he holds the key to her future, Annabelle sets out with him on a path of recovery that leads back to her childhood and into the Jangga's ancient heartland, where their grandparents' lives begin to yield secrets that will challenge the possibility of their happiness together.' - Publisher's blurb.
y separately published work icon It's Raining in Mango : Pictures from the Family Album Thea Astley , New York (City) : G. P. Putnam's Sons , 1987 Z355929 1987 selected work short story (taught in 2 units)

Wresting his family from the easy living of nineteenth-century Sydney, Cornelius Laffey takes them to northern Queensland where thousands of hopefuls are digging for gold in the mud. They confront the horror of Aboriginal dispossession, and Cornelius is sacked for reporting the slaughter. This is an unforgettable tale of the other side of Australia's heritage.

Source: Penguin Random House Australia.

(https://penguin.com.au/books/its-raining-in-mango-popular-penguins-9780143204749)

y separately published work icon Jam Tree Gully : Poems John Kinsella , New York (City) : W. W. Norton , 2012 Z1823469 2012 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units) 'In this daring new collection, Australia's preeminent environmental poet confronts the legacy of Thoreau's Walden. With Walden as his inspiration, John Kinsella moved with his family back to rural Australia, where he wrote the poems in this original collection exploring the nature of our responsibility and connection to the land.' (Publisher's blurb)
y separately published work icon The Sound of One Hand Clapping Richard Flanagan , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 1997 Z366585 1997 single work novel (taught in 4 units) 'In the winter of 1954, in a construction camp in the remote Tasmanian wilderness, when Sonja Buloh was three years old and her father was drinking too much, Sonja's mother walked into a blizzard never to return. Some thirty-five years later, when Sonja visits Tasmania and her drunkard father, the shadows of the past begin to intrude into the present - changing forever his living death and her ordered life.' (Source: Libraries Australia).

Description

This unit considers a range of Australian poetry, fiction and drama with a strong sense of place, and extends the city-bush divide that has been so prevalent in Australian culture. It is concerned with the ways a sense of place is manifested in literary works. It also examines the collective notion of 'Australian' literature for the differences made by settings in diverse parts of Australia and the sensibilities of authors from different regions. The unit includes a number of Western Australian works, and writings by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors.

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