Peter Mathews Peter Mathews i(A137904 works by)
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Art, Beauty and the Problem of Consciousness in Tim Winton's Breath Peter Mathews , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , vol. 62 no. 1 2017; (p. 219-230)

'In Tim Winton's Breathe (2009), recently adapted into a 2017 film by Simon Baker, the everyday world is presented to the reader in aesthetic terms. Surfing is thus transformed by Winton from a sport or passtime unto something creative and artistic. The world that surfers occupy in described in similar terms, from the breathtakingly beautiful to the downright ugly.' (Introduction)

1 Who is My Neighbour? : Tim Winton’s ‘Aquifer’ and the Ghosts of Cloudstreet Peter Mathews , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , February vol. 32 no. 1 2017;

'The psychology of guilt as debt is a recurrent theme in Tim Winton’s fiction. A number of scholars have recently examined the theme of haunting in Winton’s Cloudstreet (1991), arguing that the ghosts which appear in the story represent an engagement with Australia’s colonial past, in particular the mistreatment of its Indigenous peoples. The latest of these, Michael R. Griffiths, highlights the shortcomings of Winton’s treatment of this theme, contending that Winton’s text might be read as a kind of excuse, in the name of naïveté, for colonial abuses. Given that Nicholas Birns (among others) has noted a new maturity in Winton’s work from The Turning (2004) onward, a fresh examination of such themes in Winton’s work is warranted. This essay does so through a reading of the short story ‘Aquifer’. Examining the story’s treatment of the psychology of guilt and debt, the essay explores how Winton tries to resolve the moral and historical problems he raises in regard to Australian culture through the ethical figure of the neighbour, drawn in particular from the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. By showing the centrality of the neighbour to Winton’s work through references to In the Winter Dark (1988), Cloudstreet, Breath (2009), ‘Aquifer,’ and a newspaper editorial by Winton on the humanitarian treatment of refugees, this paper seeks to provide a new critical window through which to understand his evolving ethical ideas about Australia’s past and future.'

Source: Abstract.

1 On the Genealogy of Democracy : Reading Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Mathews , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 27 no. 2 2012; (p. 68-80)
1 The Virtue of Self-Discipline : Reading Tsiolkas and Foucault Peter Mathews , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , July vol. 57 no. 1 2012; (p. 209-223)
1 Postcolonial Impressions in Jonathan Bennett's Verandah People Peter Mathews , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies , Fall vol. 17 no. 2 2011; (p. 26-38)
1 Peter Mathews Reviews The Mary Smokes Boys by Patrick Holland Peter Mathews , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , May no. 9 2011;

— Review of The Mary Smokes Boys Patrick Holland , 2010 single work novel
1 The Postcolonial Screen : Elaborate Forgeries in Rodney Hall’s The Second Bridegroom Peter Mathews , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Issues in Australian Literature 2010; (p. 237-253)
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