Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedom single work   criticism   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 1989... 1989 Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedom
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I would like to tell you a simple story. This story comes to me by way of Robert Bly, the American poet. Writers, he says, need to preserve their frogskins. Frog-skins, not foreskins; though writing can be something of a circumcision when forced into categories — some-thing between public ritual and private pain. To counteract this phallocentrism let me offer you the metaphor of writing as woman, not only as the re-pressed, but as the source. (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Age Monthly Review vol. 8 no. 10 February 1989 Z596777 1989 periodical issue 1989 pg. 5-7
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations Sneja Gunew (editor), Kateryna Olijnyk Longley (editor), North Sydney : Allen and Unwin , 1992 Z368496 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography

    'If a national literature is composed of the varieties of ways that inhabitants construct and represent their experiences over time, then Australia does not yet possess a national literature. Rather "Australian literature" is a sub-set of English literature which does not acknowledge the literary and cultural traditions of a third of the population. The philosophy behind "Striking Chords" is to move debates beyond the current artificial opposition between multiculturalism and Australian culture so that the latter is enriched by the inclusion of the former. Migration is, after all, part of the tradition of all non-Aboriginal Australians. "Striking Chords" is aimed at teachers at all levels of the educational sector who are interested in but puzzled by this new field and these new writers as well as at members of the general public who would also like to know more about these changes in our culture. It is not merely concerned with multiculturalism, although this is its departure and remains its main focus. It also encompasses the supposed split between writers and critics; community versus the so-called mainstream of writing; minorities within minorities; and gender, where the different ways in which men and women position themselves in these debates is of substantial interest. "Sneja Gunew is an Associate Professor at Deakin University. Kateryna Longley is a Senior Lecturer at Murdoch University.".' (Publication summary)

    North Sydney : Allen and Unwin , 1992
    pg. 3-8
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Looking for Estrellita Brian Castro , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1999 Z538753 1999 selected work prose criticism biography St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1999 pg. 19 -37
Last amended 20 Feb 2017 15:53:25
3-8 Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedomsmall AustLit logo
19 -37 Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedomsmall AustLit logo
5-7 Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedomsmall AustLit logo The Age Monthly Review
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