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y separately published work icon The AustLit Anthology of Criticism anthology   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 The AustLit Anthology of Criticism
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The articles collected here have been selected with non-specialist readers in mind and aim to provide insights and valuable understandings into the works of important Australian writers. Upper secondary and lower tertiary students and general readers will find these articles useful for the study of leading Australian writers whether that is happening in years 11 and 12; first, second and third year university courses; or reading groups.

Notes

  • The AustLit Anthology of Criticism is a separately published work within AustLit.

Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2010 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction : The AustLit Anthology of Criticism, Leigh Dale , Linda Hale , single work criticism (p. 1)
Peter Carey, Candida Baker (interviewer), single work biography interview (p. 2)
The Bushranger's Voice : Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) and Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter (1879), Paul Eggert , single work criticism (p. 3)
Cultural Memory in Postcolonial Fiction : The Uses and Abuses of Ned Kelly, Graham Huggan , single work criticism
Focusing on Carey's and Drewe's representations of the Ned Kelly legend, the article explores the issues of memory, cultural myths and postcolonial fiction. Huggan argues that the two novels 'illustrate the importance of the literary text in structuring the individual/collective memory process', drawing attention to the ways in which memory is dependent on metaphor, particularly metaphors of the body, to actualise remembered experience. Both works 'are postcolonial renderings, not just of one of Australia's most powerful national narratives, but also one of its most enduring and yet paradoxiacally amnesiac cultural myths. In remembering Ned Kelly, both writers draw attention to alternative histories inscribed upon the wild colonial body, through which tha nation's chequered past can be creatively transformed and its present critically reassessed.' The article concludes with reflections on the malleability and current fashionability of the Kelly legend, assessing its implications for 'a Wester ex-settler society whose own thriving memory industry bears so many of the contradictory signs of the nation's colonial past'.
(p. 4)
Resurrecting Ned Kelly, Lyn Innes , single work criticism
'In a review of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, the poet Peter Porter commented that the three most potent icons in Australian popular history were Ned Kelly, Phar Lap, and Donald Bradman. Of these Ned Kelly has the longest history, and has undergone numerous revivals and reconfigurations. One might also argue that he was the least successful of the three; he was a man who saw himself as a victim of empire, class, race, and the judicial system. At least that is how Kelly presents himself in The Jerilderie Letter, and many of those who have written about him affirm that this view was justified. So the question is why and in what ways Ned Kelly has become so potent; why cannot Australians let him die? And what does he mean to Australians, or indeed the rest of the world, today? This essay will glance briefly at some early representations of Kelly, before discussing in more detail Peter Carey's revival of Kelly, and considering the significance of that revival in the present.' (Author's abstract)
(p. 5)
The Influence of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang : Repositioning the Ned Kelly Narrative in Australian Popular Culture, Nathanael O'Reilly , single work criticism
Author's abstract: Ned Kelly is currently a dominant figure in the Australian national consciousness, largely due to the commercial and critical success of Peter Carey's novel True History of the Kelly Gang, which repositioned the Kelly narrative firmly at the center of Australian popular culture and created a commercial and cultural environment conducive to the production of further revisions of the narrative. Conclusion Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang has quickly become one of the most important works in Australian literature due to the cultural and historical importance of the narrative it retells, the commercial success of the novel, the critical accolades the author has received, the new prominence it has brought to the Kelly narrative, and the intense debate it has inspired.
(p. 6)
His Natural Life and the Capacities of Melodrama, John F. Burrows , single work criticism
Burrows looks at His Natural Life as a melodramatic vision that derived from English and French fiction and seeks to describe what makes good melodrama. The audience and their recognition of conventions supplied by the author are very important, but Burrows argues that "when the susurrus of the pathetic fallacy is shut out of mind" there remains echoes of Romanticism and the sublime. Despite the narrative instability caused by Clarke's occasional use of antithetical figures (which challenges readers' conventional views), Rufus Dawes' fate stabilizes his character as a hero of melodrama.
(p. 7)
The Historical Basis of For the Term of His Natural Life, L. L. Robson , single work criticism
Robson examines Clarke's use of recorded history and the extent to which these records were adapted for the purposes of the narrative. While some items were exaggerated for effect, others are almost exact transcriptions of original records. Robson concludes that His Natural Life is far from the truth in terms of the incidents surrounding Rufus Dawes, but he acknowledges that Clarke's use of recorded history produced "a more effective human document than it otherwise might have been.
(p. 8)
Rufus Dawes : His Natural and Spiritual Life, Catherine Runcie , single work criticism
Runcie considers His Natural Life in relation to the search for a moral framework by John Stuart Mill and others to replace the outdated one of the first half of the nineteenth century. Runcie argues that His Natural Life is a dramatization of the failure of contemporary society to adequately deal with religion, government and personal spirituality. Rufus Dawes' spiritual life is the innermost subject of the novel as he experiences a descent and ascent before reclaiming his name, Devine, at the end of the novel.
(p. 9)
From Melodrama to Classic Comic : Adaptations of His Natural Life, 1886-1986, Elizabeth Webby , single work criticism
Webby examines the different themes and content of several stage and film adaptations of His Natural Life, revealing changing attitudes to issues such as cannabalism, homosexuality and melodrama.
(p. 10)
Marcus Clarke : His Natural Life, Michael Wilding , single work criticism biography
Wilding discusses Clarke's attempts to influence his Victorian readers to sympathise with Dawes and, through Dawes, with the convicts themselves. While the connections between John Rex and Rufus Dawes seem implausible, they offer a special effect in the presentation of alter-egos. The connections allow a comparison of the freedom of each, but Wilding argues that none of the characters are free. Wilding concludes that guilt is a major theme that originates in the first Oedipal killing and reverberates in other crimes committed throughout the novel.
(p. 11)
Reading Aboriginal Writing, Veronica Brady , single work criticism (p. 12)
Hybridity in Jack Davis' No Sugar, Brian Dibble , Margaret MacIntyre , single work criticism (p. 13)
An Interview with Jack Davis, Adam Shoemaker (interviewer), single work interview (p. 14)
An Interview with Bruce Dawe, Brian Dibble , Bruce Bennett , single work biography (p. 15)
Bruce Dawe, the Ordinary and Extraordinary Bloke, Dennis Haskell , single work criticism (p. 16)
Review of Sometimes Gladness : Collected Poems 1954-1982, Vincent O'Sullivan , single work review
— Review of Sometimes Gladness : Collected Poems 1954-1982 Bruce Dawe , 1983 selected work poetry ;
(p. 17)
Bruce Dawe's Poetry, John M. Wright , single work criticism (p. 18)
Interview with Bruce Dawe, C. D. Yeabsley (interviewer), single work interview biography (p. 19)
The Melodrama of Defeat: Political Patterns in Some Colonial and Contemporary Australian Plays, Veronica Kelly , single work criticism (p. 20)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Australian Literature : Culture, Identity and English Teaching Annette Patterson , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012;
'The development of the Australian Curriculum has reignited a debate about the role of Australian literature in the contexts of curricula and classrooms. A review of the mechanisms for promoting Australian literature including literary prizes, databases, surveys and texts included for study in senior English classrooms in New South Wales and Victoria provides a background for considering the purpose of Australian texts and the role of literature teachers in shaping students' engagement with literature.' (Author's introduction)
Introduction : The AustLit Anthology of Criticism Leigh Dale , Linda Hale , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The AustLit Anthology of Criticism 2010; (p. 1)
Introduction : The AustLit Anthology of Criticism Leigh Dale , Linda Hale , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The AustLit Anthology of Criticism 2010; (p. 1)
Australian Literature : Culture, Identity and English Teaching Annette Patterson , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012;
'The development of the Australian Curriculum has reignited a debate about the role of Australian literature in the contexts of curricula and classrooms. A review of the mechanisms for promoting Australian literature including literary prizes, databases, surveys and texts included for study in senior English classrooms in New South Wales and Victoria provides a background for considering the purpose of Australian texts and the role of literature teachers in shaping students' engagement with literature.' (Author's introduction)
Last amended 20 Jun 2014 15:44:41
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