Australia's history retold through the eyes of Joan, a woman who has never rated a mention in the school books. Joan leads many lives: she is a wife and mother of no great distinction, but in the life of her imagination she is present at all the big moments of Australia's past. (Source: Trove)
'The notion of interiority in Australian literature can be thought of in two main ways: as a physical, geographical location, such as the outback, or as a subjective notion of what constitutes our identity. Examining a range of representative examples, this chapter examines the way in which Australian fiction has explored, transgressed, and questioned the overlap of these two metaphors of interiority. For authors like Patrick White and Tim Winton, for instance, these liminal moments are often presented as mystical experiences, whereas novels like Kate Grenville’s Joan Makes History or Kim Scott’s Benang explore their colonial and political dimensions. The common intersection for all these narratives lies in their shared ethical confrontation between self and other, internal and external, a contested line that challenges readers of Australian fiction to rethink the borders of their own interiority.'
Source: Abstract
'1988年澳洲殖民二百周年庆是一个具有重大历史意义的事件。该庆典的官方组织者希望这次庆祝活动成为民族自我欢庆的和谐大合唱,可实际上它却成了各种政治势力和利益群体竞技的话语场。凯特·格伦维尔的《琼创造历史》和彼得·凯里的《奥斯卡与露辛达》这两部当年出版的历史小说是典型的"二百周年庆作品",反映了该时期独特的期待视野、价值观和利益;它们也是作家以写作方式积极参与社会大辩论、表达自己政治立场、历史观和对民族接触问题态度的产物'
Source: CAOD.
'The post-war Australian literature offers multitude in terms of ethnicity. The talk of Aborigines, the stories of the whites, the psychological state of a migrant mind, the idea of home, the civilization and savagery, superiority and inferiority, rationality and sensuality, these all share the pages of Australian literature…' (75)
