Issue Details: First known date: 1984... 1984 In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Introduction to and analysis of movements in Australian writing and culture ; discusses cultural theories concerning Aboriginal people and Aboriginal influence on art and design, as well as literary interest in Aboriginal people, including the Jindyworobak movement.'  (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1984 .
      Extent: x, 246 pp.
      ISBN: 0140225676

Works about this Work

Sex and the City : New Novels by Women and Middlebrow Culture at Mid-Century Susan Sheridan , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October-November vol. 27 no. 3/4 2012; (p. 1-12)
'Central to developments in Australian literature during the period from the end of Second World War until the mid-1960s - what might be called the 'long 1950s' - was the emergence of the kind of modernist novel written by Patrick White as the benchmark of modern fiction. This was the outcome of a struggle among opinion-makers in the literary field, which during this period came to be dominated for the first time by academic critics. They, by and large, favoured the new forms of postwar modernism and rejected that literary nationalism which had drawn the loyalty of most influential writers during the 1930s and 940s.' (Author's introduction)
In a (New) Critical Condition : Accounting for Australian Literatures Leigh Dale , John Bushnell , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Teaching Australian Literature : From Classroom Conversations to National Imaginings 2011; (p. 246-265)
'In 1984 John Docker published a very funny account of the division between Leavisites and New Critics in the English departments at Melbourne and Sydney universities. The title of his book, In a Critical Condition: Reading Australian Literature seemed to hint that Australian literature was on its deathbed. But, in fact, participants in debates about teaching Australian literatures have tended to take for granted that the study of literature itself is an essential part of a secondary school education, and a legitimate part of a tertiary education for those wishing to become teachers; the debate arises from different ideas about what should be taught and how. The title of this essay, however, hints at a new level of concern about the state of teaching of Australian literatures. This concern arises from the fact that schools and universities have been shaped by dramatically intensified demands that outcomes be quantified, and quality evaluated. It is the premise of this essay that these demands have had, and will have, a far greater effect on the teaching of literature than disciplinary debates in literary studies, broadly conceived. Thus, this essay seeks to move work and workplace cultures to the centre of the discussion.' (Authors' introduction, 246)
Mediation at Work : Tim Winton's Fiction in Italian Denise Maree Formica , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 71 no. 1 2011;
'Australian literary production reflects those nation-specific values and discourses that have been historically constrained and enabled by a complex system of institutions, individuals, practices and values. However, upon entering a foreign literary market through translation, Australian literary narratives are subjected to further constraints imposed by similar agencies within that culture which mediate the processes of selection, translation and critical reception. My analysis of Tim Winton's Dirt Music (2001) enables a greater understanding of how the writer's use of landscape positions him within that post-Romantic tradition of Australian literature that incorporates major Australian writers of prose and poetry such as Randolph Stow, Patrick White, Judith Wright and Les Murray...' (Author's introduction p. 1)
'Tragical-comical-historical-political" : Criticism and the Cold War in Australia D. Carter , 1986 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meridian , October vol. 5 no. 2 1986; (p. 164-168)
Deserts and Drunks : John Docker's Cultural Whinge M. Williams , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Span , no. 20 1985; (p. 67-73)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
Conditioning Critics : John Docker's 'In a Critical Condition' Greg Manning , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 43 no. 3 1984; (p. 414-422)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
A Bit of Intellectual Bovver Christopher Pearson , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 5 May 1984; (p. 39)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
Against the Orthodoxies Geoffrey Serle , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , December no. 97 1984; (p. 65-66)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
More to Life than Leavis Helen Daniel , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: The Age Monthly Review , vol. 4 no. 2 1984; (p. 7-9)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
Paranoid About Melbourne John Hanrahan , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 April 1984; (p. 15)

— Review of In a Critical Condition : Reading Australian Literature John Docker , 1984 single work criticism
Mediation at Work : Tim Winton's Fiction in Italian Denise Maree Formica , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 71 no. 1 2011;
'Australian literary production reflects those nation-specific values and discourses that have been historically constrained and enabled by a complex system of institutions, individuals, practices and values. However, upon entering a foreign literary market through translation, Australian literary narratives are subjected to further constraints imposed by similar agencies within that culture which mediate the processes of selection, translation and critical reception. My analysis of Tim Winton's Dirt Music (2001) enables a greater understanding of how the writer's use of landscape positions him within that post-Romantic tradition of Australian literature that incorporates major Australian writers of prose and poetry such as Randolph Stow, Patrick White, Judith Wright and Les Murray...' (Author's introduction p. 1)
In a (New) Critical Condition : Accounting for Australian Literatures Leigh Dale , John Bushnell , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Teaching Australian Literature : From Classroom Conversations to National Imaginings 2011; (p. 246-265)
'In 1984 John Docker published a very funny account of the division between Leavisites and New Critics in the English departments at Melbourne and Sydney universities. The title of his book, In a Critical Condition: Reading Australian Literature seemed to hint that Australian literature was on its deathbed. But, in fact, participants in debates about teaching Australian literatures have tended to take for granted that the study of literature itself is an essential part of a secondary school education, and a legitimate part of a tertiary education for those wishing to become teachers; the debate arises from different ideas about what should be taught and how. The title of this essay, however, hints at a new level of concern about the state of teaching of Australian literatures. This concern arises from the fact that schools and universities have been shaped by dramatically intensified demands that outcomes be quantified, and quality evaluated. It is the premise of this essay that these demands have had, and will have, a far greater effect on the teaching of literature than disciplinary debates in literary studies, broadly conceived. Thus, this essay seeks to move work and workplace cultures to the centre of the discussion.' (Authors' introduction, 246)
In a Critical Condition : Two Responses to John Docker : I Jim Legasse , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 30 no. 2 1985; (p. 81-83)
In a Critical Condition : Two Responses to John Docker : II Veronica Brady , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 30 no. 2 1985; (p. 83-87)
Criticism : Stirring the Possum Don Anderson , 1984 single work criticism
— Appears in: The National Times , 2-8 March 1984; (p. 33)
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