"The Kadaitcha Sung tells the story of Tommy Gubba, son of Koobara, son of the chief of the Kadaitcha clan, and Fleur, a white woman, of Northern European descent. Tommy was born secretly after his uncle Booka Roth killed his father to become the last of the Kadaitcha clan. The Kadaitcha clan is in the novel an "ancient clan of sorcerers" (1) called by Biamee to stand among the tribes of the South Land (i.e. Australia) when he returned among the stars. Tommy is initiated and called by Biamee to recuperate the heart of the Rainbow Serpent stolen by Booka Roth, without which Biamee cannot "complete his earthly manifestation". Ensuing from the war that Booka waged against his own people, the veil of mists that Biamee had set upon the South Land is lifted, and "other mortals" come from "all corners of the globe and from every branch of the family of man" (33) and join forces with Booka, defeating the tribes of South Land that cannot match the weapons of the invaders (34). Tommy is to take revenge on the migloo ("fair-skinned" people), who have "raped and pillaged" (31) his people, and conquered the entire land (35). A fast pace narrative, The Kadaitcha Sung is also an action-packed novel, to which this quick introduction cannot do justice."
Source: Estelle Castro, 'Imaginary (Re)Vision', 2007
Akhurst reads a poem inspired by Sam Watson's novel The Kadaitcha Sung and explains its genesis and the importance of the book to his own writing.
The Circle and the Spiral : A Study of Australian Aboriginal and New Zealand Maori Literature
The Circle & the Spiral
Amsterdam
New York (City)
:
Rodopi
,
2004
Z1106371
2004
multi chapter work
criticism
From publisher's blurb: 'In Aboriginal and Maori literature, the circle and the spiral are the symbolic metaphors for a never-ending journey of discovery and rediscovery. The journey itself, with its indigenous perspectives and sense of orientation, is the most significant act of cultural recuperation. The present study outlines the fields of indigenous writing in Australia and New Zealand in the crucial period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s - particularly eventful years in which postcolonial theaory attempted to "centre the margins" and indigenous writers were keen to escape the particular centering offered in seach of other positions more in tune with their creative sensibilities. Indigenous writing relinquished its narrative preference for social realism in favour of traversing old territory in new spiritual ways; roots converted to routes.' ... The Circle and the Spiral looks for 'locally and culturally specific tracks and traces that lead in other directions than those catalogued by postcolonial convention. This agenda is pursued by means of searching enquiries into the historical, anthropological, political and cultural determinants of the present state of Aboriginal and Maori writing (principally fiction).'
Wevers proposes that 'there are complex unfoldings around indigeneity, globalisation and the postcolonial which might usefully be illuminated by a consideration of some texts from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Pacific.'
Wevers investigation leads her to conclude that 'Indigeneity is always placed; its politics, worldview and social order are site- and culturespecific, but in the unfolding of many indigenous texts a new discourse is appearing, in which the nation state and its long binarising history of "natives" is only one part of the scene, and where "indigeneity" re-articulates and responds to globalised discourses, one of which is postcolonial politics.'
