Cirrus@Austlit

'This article tackles the charge of elitism levelled at some Australian writers by Australian critics and suggests that these assessments may be biased because of an over-emphasis on class. This kind of criticism connects elitism with the writers' appropriation of the spiritual for the endorsement of the nation, and either rejects works that treat the spiritual, or it refuses to acknowledge a spiritual element in writing that is accepted for its working-class ethos. Through readings of David Malouf's The Conversation at Curlow Creek and Thomas Keneally's A Family Madness and The Office of Innocence, I question the connection that has been made between high literariness and the symbolic endorsement of the White nation in Australia.' Source: The author.