What were the issues that Australian writers had to grapple with before they could forge a literature of their own?
Australian
literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the
people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its
early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such,
its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader
tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian
writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into
literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism,
democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and
geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the
terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Australian
writers who have obtained international renown include the Nobelwinning author
Patrick White, as well as authors Christina Stead, David Malouf, Peter Carey, Bradley
Trevor Greive, Thomas Keneally, Colleen McCullough, Nevil Shute and Morris
West. Notable contemporary expatriate authors include the feminist Germaine
Greer, art historian Robert Hughes and humorists Barry Humphries and Clive
James.
Among the
important authors of classic Australian works are the poets Henry Lawson, Banjo
Paterson, C. J. Dennis and Dorothea Mackellar. Dennis wrote in the Australian
vernacular, while Mackellar wrote the iconic patriotic poem My Country. Lawson
and Paterson clashed in the famous "Bulletin Debate" over the nature
of life in Australia with Lawson considered to have the harder edged view of
the Bush and Paterson the romantic.
Lawson is
widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers of short stories, while
Paterson's poems remain amongst the most popular Australian bush poems.
Significant poets of the 20th century included Dame Mary Gilmore, Kenneth
Slessor, A. D. Hope and Judith Wright. Among the best known contemporary poets
are Les Murray and Bruce Dawe, whose poems are often studied in Australian high
schools.
Novelists of
classic Australian works include Marcus Clarke (For the Term of His Natural
Life), Miles Franklin (My Brilliant Career), Henry Handel Richardson (The
Fortunes of Richard Mahony), Joseph Furphy (Such Is Life), Rolf Boldrewood
(Robbery Under Arms) and Ruth Park (The Harp in the South). In terms of
children's literature, Norman Lindsay (The Magic Pudding), Mem Fox (Possum
Magic), and May Gibbs (Snugglepot and Cuddlepie) are among the Australian
classics, while Melina Marchetta (Looking for Alibrandi) is a modern YA
classic. Eminent Australian playwrights have included Steele Rudd, David
Williamson, Alan Seymour and Nick Enright.
Although
historically only a small proportion of Australia's population have lived
outside the major cities, many of Australia's most distinctive stories and
legends originate in the outback, in the drovers and squatters and people of
the barren, dusty plains. David Unaipon is known as the first Aboriginal author.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of
verse.[4] A ground-breaking memoir about the experiences of the Stolen
Generations can be found in Sally Morgan's My Place. Charles Bean, Geoffrey
Blainey, Robert Hughes, Manning Clark, Claire Wright, and Marcia Langton are
authors of important Australian histories.
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