Review: Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land Down Under

Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land Down Under,' edited by Phyllis Fahrie Edelson is a great resource for those interested in Australian literature. Stylistically accomplished, provocative, and rich with possibilities, the contents of this anthology teach beautifully on the college. The anthology also includes excellent supplementary materials such as a map of Australia, a very valuable introductory survey of Australian history and literature, summary introductions to each section, brief biographies of the anthologized writers, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary of names and colloquialisms which might be unfamiliar to North Americans.

Part 1, "The Idea of the Bush," explores the complex ambivalence Australians direct toward that vast "outback" portion of their country which seems at once to define, beckon, challenge, menace, and exclude them. Part 2, "Images of Australia," is subdivided into sections titled "The Aboriginal Experience," "The Convict," and "The Search for a National Identity." This tripartite arrangement allows attention to otherness of all sorts, from skin color to caste to national or territorial affiliation, and to the difference this otherness makes to its perceiver. The lover as other, but also as a version of oneself, is the central concern of part 3, "Relationships," a section which offers conclusive evidence of the universality of this human search for love and connection, whether conducted under the Big Dipper or the Southern Cross.
With the exception of Thomas Keneally and perhaps Miles Franklin, the anthology represents all the fiction writers such a collection would be expected to acknowledge: Patrick White, Henry Lawson, Henry Handel Richardson, Christina Stead, Colin Johnson (now Mudrooroo Narogin), Thea Astley, Elizabeth Jolley, Randolph Stow, David Malouf, and Peter Carey. Also included are works by twelve other fiction writers, as well as biography/autobiography from Sally Morgan and A. B. Facey. The texts span the period 1870-1989, although about half are from contemporary writers. Short stories and excerpts from novels predominate; there is no drama or poetry. This omission might strike a prospective teacher of an Australian literature survey as a liability. However, collections of Australian poetry are easier to come by in North America than are prose anthologies, especially those not limited to short fiction, directed to a particular readership, or meant for readers already familiar with the Australian literary tradition. Scripts of Australian plays are also becoming more readily available in the Northern Hemisphere.

This review is an excerpt from World Literature Today; Summer93, Vol. 67 Issue 3, p665, 2p

This is an excellent resource for those studying or intersted in Cultural Studies & World Literature.

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