Cambridge University Press

978-0-521-88165-4 - The Cambridge History of Australian Literature

Edited by Peter Pierce
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the cambridge

History of Australian Literature

The Cambridge History of Australian Literature is the most comprehensive vol-

ume ever written on Australia’s national literature.
This authoritative guide spans Australian literary history from colonial
origins, encompassing Indigenous and migrant literatures, as well as repre-
sentations of Asia and the Pacific and the role of literary culture in modern
Australian society.
Bringing together a distinguished line-up of contributors, this volume
explores each of the literary modes in an Australian context, including short
story, poetry, children’s literature, drama, autobiography and fiction. This
book is an essential reference for general readers and specialists alike.

Peter Pierce is Honorary Research Fellow and Professor in the National

Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University.

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Edited by Peter Pierce
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THE CAMBRIDGE
History of Australian
Literature
*

Edited by
PETER PIERCE

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Edited by Peter Pierce
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cambridge unive r sity pre ss

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c Cambridge University Press 2009

First published 2009

Cover design by Marianna Berek–Lewis, 5678 Design

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Printed in China by C & C Offset Printing Co. Ltd.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data

Pierce, Peter, 1950–

The Cambridge history of Australian literature / Peter Pierce.
9780521881654 (hbk.)
The Cambridge history of literature
Includes index.
Bibliography
Australian literature – History and criticism.
A820.9

ISBN 978-0-521-88165-4 hardback

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Contents

List of contributors viii

Acknowledgements x

Introduction 1
peter pierce

from european imaginings of australia to the

end of the colonial period
1 · Britain’s Australia 7
ken stewart

2 · The beginnings of literature in colonial Australia 34

elizabeth webby

3 · Early writings by Indigenous Australians 52

penny van toorn

4 · Australian colonial poetry, 1788–1888: Claiming the future,

restoring the past 73
vivian smith

5 · No place for a book? Fiction in Australia to 1890 93

tanya dalziell

6 · Romantic aftermaths 118

richard lansdown

from the late nineteenth century to 1950

7 · Australia’s Australia 137
peter pierce

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Contents

8 · The short story, 1890s to 1950 156

bruce bennett

9 · Australian drama, 1850–1950 180

peter f itzpatrick

10 · ‘New words come tripping slowly’: Poetry, popular culture and

modernity, 1890–1950 199
peter kirkpatrick

11 · Australian fiction and the world republic of letters, 1890–1950 223

robert dixon

12 · Australia’s England, 1880–1950 255

peter morton

traverses
13 · Australian children’s literature 282
clare bradford

14 · Representations of Asia 303

robin gerster

15 · Autobiography 323
david m c cooey

16 · Riding on the ‘uncurl’d clouds’: The intersections of

history and fiction 344
brian matthews

from 1950 to nearly now

17 · Publishing, patronage and cultural politics: Institutional changes in
the field of Australian literature from 1950 360
david carter

18 · Theatre from 1950 391

katharine brisbane

19 · The short story since 1950 419

stephen torre

vi

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Contents

20 · Scribbling on the fringes: Post-1950 Australian poetry 452

dennis haskell

21 · Groups and mavericks 473

john kinsella

22 · The challenge of the novel: Australian fiction since 1950 498

susan lever

23 · The novel, the implicated reader and Australian literary

cultures, 1950–2008 517
richard nile and jason ensor

24 · Nation, literature, location 549

philip mead

Select bibliography 568

Index 585

vii

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Contributors

bruce bennett is Emeritus Professor of English at the Australian Defence Force

Academy, University of New South Wales.
clare bradford is Professor of Literary Studies at Deakin University.
katharine brisbane am, theatre writer and historian, was co-founder of Currency
Press, the performing arts publisher, and its managing editor 1971–2001.
david carter is Professor of English in the School of English, Media and Art History
at the University of Queensland.
tanya dalziell is Associate Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University
of Western Australia.
robert dixon is Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney.
jason ensor is currently completing a PhD on British and Australian publishing and
the novel.
peter f itzpatrick is Emeritus Professor in the School of English, Communications
and Performance Studies at Monash University.
robin gerster is Associate Professor of English at Monash University.
dennis haskell is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of
Western Australia.
john kinsella is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and holds a
professorial research position at the University of Western Australia.
peter kirkpatrick is Senior Lecturer in Australian Literature at the University of
Sydney.
richard lansdown is Associate Professor of English at James Cook University.
susan lever is Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy, University
of New South Wales.
david m c cooey is Associate Professor in Literary Studies at Deakin University.
brian matthews is Professor of English at Flinders University.
philip mead is Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia.
peter morton is Associate Professor in the School of English, Creative Writing and
Australian Studies at Flinders University.
richard nile is Professor of Australian Studies and Director of the Institute for Media,
Creative Arts and Technologies at Murdoch University.

viii

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Contributors

peter pierce is Honorary Research Fellow and Professor at the National Centre for
Australian Studies, Monash University.
vivian smith, poet and writer, was formerly Reader in English at the University of
Sydney.
ken stewart is Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Sydney.
stephen torre is Senior Lecturer in English at James Cook University.
penny van toorn was Senior Lecturer in the School of Letters, Art and Media at the
University of Sydney.
elizabeth webby is Emeritus Professor of Australian Literature at the University of
Sydney.

ix

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Acknowledgements

My thanks go to all the contributors to this History of Australian Literature. Saying that, I
would also like to pay tribute to those who for various reasons – good and grievous –
were unable to participate. I hope that they will still delight in the book that has resulted
from so many labours. Thanks to Kim Armitage, who commissioned this History for
Cambridge University Press early in 2006, and to the other members of the Press with
whom I have also worked. In these pages previous literary histories of Australia are
given their due, but I would like to thank four long-standing mentors and friends:
Laurie Hergenhan, Harry Heseltine, Brian Kiernan and Shirley Walker. I am particularly
grateful to four co-contributors, John Kinsella, Richard Lansdown, Susan Lever and
Philip Mead; to Peter Ujvari for his work with formatting the book and to Mary Howard
for the index. Richard Nile and Jason Ensor would like to acknowledge the support of
the Australian Research Council for their chapter. On behalf of all the contributors, I
would also like to salute the support that they have received from libraries across the
continent, and from their universities (if they still have them).

Peter Pierce

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