Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land Down Under by Phyllis Fahrie Edelson, Phyllis Fahrie Edelson (Editor)

From the Publisher

At a time when America is eagerly discovering Australian writers, this collection offers a wealth of superlative writing from the rich and varied culture of the Fifth Continent. The captivating selections in Australian Literature come from major voices, both famous and lesser known, and encompass short stories, memoirs, novels and aboriginal writings. Many have the muscularity of the culture and landscape that forged them, from vivid skies and stony desert to neon cities and stark aborigine camps. Resonant or wryly witty, charming or disturbing, they explore themes deeply rooted in the Australian experience -- shaping the land, the legacies of the convict past, the displacement of the aboriginc, the search for a national identity, sex, love, and commitment.

The danger and desolation of a drover's wife raising her family in the bush contrasts with the hollowness of modern suburban mores. The brutality and farcical justice that controlled "the convict class" is matched by aboriginal writers' testimony to the alienation and apathy of being "yesterday's people". A modern girl feels the brutality of her father's oppression; an acclaimed young aboriginal painter returns to the village where he grew up, but with harrowing results; a small-town child dreams of the future in a world turned upside down by war.

Spanning more than a century, Australian Literature crystallizes a spirit, style, and ethos found nowhere else in world literature.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0345368002
  
• ISBN-13: 9780345368003
• Format: Paperback, 304pp
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Pub. Date: March 1993
• Edition Description: 1st ed

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents