Examining the publishing history of Australian novels based on data from AustLit, Bode distinguishes three phases: British Domination 1950-1970, National Awakening 1970s and 1980s, and Multnational Domination 1990-. Resisting the frequent argument that the book and the book industry are dying, the essay explores 'some of the complex ways in which both novel and industry are Janus-faced: turned to the national and the transnational, the cultural and the commerical' (196).