'This book introduces in a lively and succinct way the major writers, literary movements, styles and genres that, at the beginning of a new century, are seen as constituting the field of Australian literature. The book consciously takes a perspective that sees literary works not as aesthetic objects created in isolation by unique individuals, but as cultural products influenced and constrained by the social, political and economic circumstances of their times. It will be an indispensable reference for both national and international readers. It covers Indigenous texts, colonial writing and reading, poetry, fiction and theater throughout two centuries, biography and autobiography, and literary criticism in Australia.' (Publication summary)
'In 1898, Henry Gyles Turner, a banker and litterateur, and Alexander Sutherland, a schoolteacher and journalist, both from Melbourne, published The Development of Australian Literature. This opened with the first of many attempts to provide "A General Sketch of Australian Literature", which devoted forty-seven pages to poetry, about thirty to fiction and eighteen to "general literature": mainly history, biography, and works of travel and exploration. The bulk of Turner and Sutherland's book, however, consisted of biographies of the three Australian writers whom they thought were of greatest significance: poets Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Kendall and novelist Marcus Clarke.' (Introduction)
'The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia have been telling stories since time immemorial. Although Indigenous oral cultures were once believed to be dying out, it is clear today, in Australia and elsewhere, that many aspects of these ancient cultures have survived in Indigenous communities, and are now thriving as a living, evolving part of contemporary life. Oral songs and narratives are traditionally an embodied and emplaced form of knowledge. Information is stored in people's minds in various narrative forms which, at the appropriate time, are transmitted from the mouths of the older generation to the ears of the young. Many narratives are connected to specific sites, and are transmitted in the course of people's movements through their country. Certain songs and stories are only transmitted in specific ceremonial contexts, while others circulate in the informal settings of everyday life. For oral traditions to survive, then, "the learning generation" must be in direct physical proximity to "the teaching generation". People must also have access to significant sites in their country, and be free to perform their ceremonies, speak their languages, and carry out their everyday cultural activities.' (Introduction)
'As editor of The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature, Elizabeth Webby has had to perform the delicate balancing act now required of any literary guide: how to familiarize the reader (both national and international) with certain historical details – she includes a welcome mini- history of Australia as part of her introduction – which also serve as co-ordinates for an increasing wealth of material on reception and production, and the history of critical evaluation. While her chosen emphasis differs from the Oxford Literary History of Australia (1998), the two books share a culturally materialistic approach. There is, however, an additional “contrapuntal” aspect to Webby’s book which encourages a wider, more layered reading of Australian literature than earlier accounts.' (Introduction)
