y separately published work icon Australian Literary Studies periodical   peer reviewed assertion
Alternative title: ALS
Date: 2015-
Date: 2002-2015
Date: 1981-2001
Date: 1979-1980
Date: 1978-1979
Date: 1976-1977
Date: 1971-1975
Date: 1963-1970
Issue Details: First known date: 1963... 1963 Australian Literary Studies
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

In 1960, those interested in the study of Australian literature were served by a number of literary magazines, including Southerly, Overland, Quadrant and Meanjin. Australian literature was not widely accepted as a valid field of academic study at this time, but this view was frequently challenged by contributors to these magazines. James McAuley, poet and teacher at the University of Tasmania saw the need for an academic periodical to professionalise the study of Australian literature and recruited Laurie Hergenhan, newly arrived at the university, to be founding editor of Australian Literary Studies.

The first issue was launched in August 1963. Aimed at teachers and students of Australian literature, the issues produced in the 1960s printed foundation research on the colonial period, and criticism of more recent literature, in an attempt to define the field of study. Articles on the works of Henry Kingsley, Marcus Clarke, Rolf Boldrewood(T), Henry Lawson, Henry Kendall and John Shaw Neilson regularly featured during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, criticism on contemporary writers such as Patrick White]m), Judith Wright, Gwen Harwood, Francis Webb and Thomas Keneally also appeared. During the 1980s and 1990s interest in the colonial period continued and the work of more contemporary writers was discussed, the most frequent subjects including Peter CareyC)), David Malouf, Les Murray and Brian Castro.

Since 1963, the 'Annual Bibliography of Studies in Australian Literature' has been printed in the May issue. For many years it has been the most comprehensive and up-to-date printed guide on criticism on Australian literature. Special issues of Australian Literary Studies have also been produced, concentrating on subjects such as the contemporary Australian short story, Australian suburbia, and the works of Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Henry Handel Richardson and Les Murray. The Penguin New Literary History of Australia was released as a special issue in 1988.

Australian Literary Studies is often identified with its long-time editor, Laurie Hergenhan. The journal was produced at the University of Tasmania until 1975 when it was relocated to the University of Queensland where Hergenhan had moved four years earlier. Unlike other literary magazines such as Southerly and Meanjin, Australian Literary Studies publishes no creative writing, concentrating solely on the criticism of historical and contemporary Australian literature. While this concentration was at first seen as a positive element in literary grant applications, it became increasingly negative in the 1990s. With a consistent circulation of around one thousand, Australian Literary Studies was assisted by regular grants from Australian government arts agencies until 1996 when all funding was withdrawn. Since that time it has been produced with the assistance of the University of Queensland Press.

Leigh Dale became the editor in 2002. The journal was produced at the University of Wollongong. Dale continued in that role until 2015 when Julieanne Lamond became editor and the journal moved to an online only publication format. The new format journal was launched in February 2016 at the Australian National University, its new institutional home.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1963

Works about this Work

Editing ALS : A Memoir Laurie Hergenhan , 2013 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 28 no. 1/2 2013; (p. 15-25)
Reading English Leigh Dale , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 28 no. 1/2 2013; (p. 1-14)
History of Scholarly Journals Writ Large Literature Down Under : Chasing the Kangaroo's Tail Michael Wilding , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 20 November 2013; (p. 29, 33)
Literary Lion Takes a Look Back Des Houghton , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 16 November 2013; (p. 73)
ERA and the Ranking of Australian Humanities Journals Paul Genoni , Gaby Haddow , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , May no. 46 2009;
'In Australian Humanities Review 45 Guy Redden draws upon his experience with the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in the UK to warn Australian researchers of various dangers posed by the implementation of similar methods of evaluation that may be introduced under the banner of Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). Redden is concerned with the tendency of emerging forms of research evaluation to privilege a small number of 'high ranking' journals, and of the distorting effect this has on research communication as authors obsessively target these journals. This in turn results in research funding being concentrated on a small number of institutions and research units that are (predictably) assessed as high-achievers.'
Literary New Chums : Michael Wilding and Marcus Clarke Laurie Hergenhan , 2004 single work essay
— Appears in: Running Wild : Essays, Fictions and Memoirs Presented to Michael Wilding 2004; (p. 223-232)

Hergenhan's contribution to the Festschrift for Michael Wilding starts as a memoir, reminiscing about the mid-1960s when he and Wilding were colleagues at the University of Sydney. Both Wilding and Hergenhan were interested in a Marcus Clarke 'revival', and both did some critical writing on Clarke which, in Wilding's case, led to the significant monograph Marcus Clarke (1977). Hergenhan discovers an affinity between the two writers who both were expatriates from England having to make sense of the new environment in Australia, and who both were Australian as well as international writers. He argues that 'perhaps Wilding saw much of himself in Clarke' (226), and concludes:

'Clarke provided a literary model [for Wilding], a morale booster, and above all an analogue of a thoroughly professional writer, with a flexible, restless outlook, pursuing the new with the aid of the old, a young expatriate writer, beginning his acclimatisation but always nurturing his internationalism. ... Theirs is one of the most fascinating connections - of "imagined counterparts" - in Australian literary history' (232).

Brian Kiernan, Critic and Editor: Some Reminiscences Laurie Hergenhan , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 12-13)
Laurie Herganhan pays tribute to Brian Kiernan's pioneering work in the field of Australian literary studies, particularly Kiernan's contributions to the Australian Authors series (through the volume on Henry Lawson) and to Australian Literary Studies.
ERA and the Ranking of Australian Humanities Journals Paul Genoni , Gaby Haddow , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , May no. 46 2009;
'In Australian Humanities Review 45 Guy Redden draws upon his experience with the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in the UK to warn Australian researchers of various dangers posed by the implementation of similar methods of evaluation that may be introduced under the banner of Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). Redden is concerned with the tendency of emerging forms of research evaluation to privilege a small number of 'high ranking' journals, and of the distorting effect this has on research communication as authors obsessively target these journals. This in turn results in research funding being concentrated on a small number of institutions and research units that are (predictably) assessed as high-achievers.'
Cut May Sink Literary Journal Dorothy Illing , 1996 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 4 December 1996; (p. 25)
y separately published work icon Literary Magazine Editors' Seminar : Report Elaine Lindsay (editor), Adelaide : University of Adelaide. Dept. of Continuing Education , 1978 Z135616 1978 anthology criticism

PeriodicalNewspaper Details

ISSN: 0004-9697
Frequency:
2 issues per annum
Range:
1963-
Indexes:
Index in final issue of volume.
Size:
23cm (1963-1992); 25cm (1993- ); between 70-150 pages
Note:
First issue each year contains an annual bibliography of Australian literature
Last amended 2 Feb 2016 12:32:44
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