Cirrus@Austlit

'Biography is one of the most potent arts of democracy because it links the individual to the body politic and to history. It stands in parallel with independent long-form journalism. Whereas independent journalism is under threat, biography is currently one of the most popular and productive genres of publishing, breaking down the stratification of readership associated with almost every other category of writing. In the academy, the status of biography has transformed over the last few decades, with historians embracing the genre, literary studies scholars experimenting with form, and a wealth of new infrastructure embedding biographical inquiry in Australia. The biographical turn in Australia has brought the two disciplines of history and literary studies closer together and enriched their scholarship. David Marr’s Patrick White, Fiona Capp’s My Blood’s Country, Mark McKenna’s Return to Uluru and Alexis Wright’s Tracker are just some examples of the field over the last 30 years. This article considers the principles underpinning contemporary biography and its practice. It reflects on the particular challenges of writing about living subjects, negotiating intimacy and privacy, and the uses of empathic listening in biographical interviews. It also explores the value of collective biography as a genre of current significance.' (Publication abstract)

'Barry Humphries began his career as a Dadaist. His street performances around Melbourne in the early 1950s foreshadowed performance art in Australia. He was the most daring student prankster Melbourne University had ever known.' (Introduction) 

'Patrick White’s literary reputation has been built largely on his achievements as a novelist. But the Nobel Prize winner and author of twelve novels, several collections of short stories, and a memoir wrote for the theatre throughout his life, and he began his career writing short plays. He enjoyed the theatre from a young age, when his mother took him to see plays in Sydney during the 1920s. White’s love of the theatre extended later in life to the generous patronage of several celebrated Australian actors, including Max Cullen, Kate Fitzpatrick, Robyn Nevin, and Kerry Walker. White’s friend from his London days, the actor Ronald Waters, said that White wanted to write “one great play more than all the novels”'  (Introduction)

'2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening up of relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China. When he became prime minister in 1972, Gough Whitlam sent the first ambassador to China (Dr Stephen Fitzgerald), and in his term of office established support for artists’ exchanges from the Australia Council. The Australian Ballet visited China in 1980, the first major ballet company to tour since the Cultural Revolution. The touring of China by Australian theatre, opera and dance companies has flourished since then, particularly over the last decade, and Australian spoken-word drama has featured in the relationship between the two countries since 1983. Since the 1980s, the work of the New Wave dramatists has captured the interest of Chinese audiences over a sustained period beyond the years of the New Wave itself. The theatre has, in some respects, provided a respite from the rigours of realpolitik and most importantly a means of genuine interaction between ordinary Australians and Chinese citizens who make up the audiences. This article documents the take-up of the New Wave drama in China, and the legacy of the relationships created in this formative period of Australian theatre in its international context.' (Publication abstract)

In a letter accompanying the advance copy of her latest novel, Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks reveals the inspiration for Horse.

'In 2020, I conducted a study of five Australian theatre companies that have toured to China over the last decade. This article draws on a study of three of those theatre companies: Windmill Theatre Co., Insite Arts and Red Stitch Actors' Theatre. It examines the development of three productions by the companies and the extent of their adaptation for audiences in China. The case study productions include 'Baba Yaga', a children's play and co-production between Adelaide's Windmill Theatre Co. and Scotland's Imaginate; 'Saltbush', an immersive theatre production from Insite Arts; and 'desert, 6.29pm', a play produced by the Red Stitch Actors' Theatre, who were invited to perform at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in 2018.' (Publication abstract)

'A number of Australian expatriate authors in the United States have made an impact on the American public in a variety of genres: Lily Brett, Geraldine Brooks, Peter Carey, Shirley Hazzard, Thomas Keneally, Jill Ker Conway, Sumner Locke Elliott, Robert Hughes, Kate Jennings, Christina Stead, Janette Turner Hospital and others. In addition, the experiences of these writers in the United States have informed their work in distinctive ways that have been important to Australian literature, and to Australian literary culture. Contemporary Australian authors such as Chloe Hooper and Nam Le have undertaken creative writing training in the US,  and have returned to live in Australia.

'Over the last twenty years however, the globalisation of the book trade has not dissolved the concept of the expatriate writer, or removed the problems for writers linked to origin, readership, visibility, remuneration for, and recognition of their work. In fact, ironically, it seems that there is a renewed imperative for Australian writers to live outside Australia in order to gain access to a global readership and lucrative publishing opportunities. The success of high-profile expatriate writers in the US, such as Brooks and Carey, supports this claim.

'This article considers the historical fiction of Geraldine Brooks who is, alongside Peter Carey, an exceptionally successful author with an immense readership in the US and across the world. Unlike Carey, however, Brooks is largely ignored by Australian critics. The article explores Brooks’ fiction in the context of her career as a war correspondent, her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel March (2005), and the effect of her many years covering war and conflict on her work. It examines the distinctive potency of Brooks’ fiction in the context of historical fiction as an evolving genre for contemporary audiences.' (Publication abstract)

'John Clarke delighted audiences with his satire for many years.He was both a writer and an actor, but in many ways, particularly in his early years, he was a reluctant actor. This article examines the development of Clarke’s unique approach to performing and his solution to the problem of establishing a direct connection with an audience. It explores Clarke’s development as a performer and writer from his beginnings in university revue in New Zealand in the 1960s, his association with Barry Humphries and others in London during the early 1970s, and his work in Australia from 1977 until his death in 2017. This article charts Clarke’s distinctive contribution to Australian comic drama as writer and performer in The Games (1998–2000) and in Clarke and Dawe (1989–2017). Drawing on numerous interviews the author conducted with Clarke between 2008 and 2017, it also investigates the unique ways in which Clarke prepared for comic performance, and his approach to collaboration with other writers and performers on scripts for television and in film.'

Source: Abstract.

'The expatriate Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders and Americans who lived on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1950s and ’60s were a mix of fiction writers, poets, musicians, painters, journalists and photographers. Politically, many of them would have described themselves as internationalists. George Johnston wrote his novel My Brother Jack (1964) while he and Charmian Clift lived on Hydra, and with it he said he rediscovered Australia.

'The contemporary Australian writers Susan Johnson and Meaghan Delahunt have each been inspired in their own work by the fiction and memoir of Johnston and Clift. Both Johnson and Delahunt have spent long periods of their lives as expatriates themselves, living in the UK and other parts of Europe. In spite of the achievements of Johnson and Delahunt as novelists, their writing has been largely overlooked by critics. This article examines their work in relation to expatriatism, internationalism and the politics of contemporary Europe.

'The article examines Susan Johnson’s reimagining of the lives of George Johnston and Charmian Clift in The Broken Book (2004) in 2019, 50 years after Clift’s death. It also explores Delahunt’s To the Island (2011), which is set on Naxos. The essay articulates the ways in which Johnson and Delahunt have internationalised Australian literature as a direct result of their expatriate experiences.' (Publication abstract)

'Let’s face it, Thursday evenings on ABC television are not quite the same any more. The mesmerising, idiosyncratic sketches of Clarke and Dawe are now consigned to Australian television history. Still, Sammy J has taken the spot, and the good news is that the spirit of Clarke lives on. Sammy J’s gormless, football coach character, the strongman at the helm of the “Blue Ties”, delivers the rebukes to our politicians in a register we all recognise. The sketches are clever, dry and whip smart. The coach is comical with his blokey, narcissistic armoury of quips.' (Introduction)