AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In a cultural context of rapid change, the pressure is on to transform bodies, material possessions, and the environment, simply to keep up. Self-improvement, home renovation, behaviour modification, makeovers, extreme or otherwise are sold as essential components of a responsible, fully functioning, and appropriately aspirational member of society. Transformation may involve the pursuit of something quite new, or take the form of a nostalgic restitution of an earlier state. It may be the result of an intense, life-changing experience. Whatever form it takes, to transform is to be driven by a desire for something better. Transformation is a kind of alchemy or metamorphosis, but there is no secrecy here, or intimations of magic. Rather, the change is quite public, a cause for celebration, and the process itself laid bare as a source of fascination.. ' (Jeremy Fisher, Jane O'Sullivan, Anne Pender, Editorial introduction)
Contents
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Porn Sucks : The Transformation of Germaine Greer?,
single work
criticism
'In a 1984 New York Times interview, Germaine Greer discussed the quite different views that have surrounded her supposed attitude towards sex. As she put it, “People seem to think I'm Hugh Hefner and that the reason women started having sex is because I told them to” (qtd. in De Lacy). This view had, however, shifted by the 1980s. As she told reporter Justine De Lacy, “Now they are saying that I'm against sex.” ' (Introduction)
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The Many Transformations of Albert Facey,
single work
criticism
'In the last months of his life, 86-year-old Albert Facey became a best-selling author and revered cultural figure following the publication of his autobiography, A Fortunate Life. Released on Anzac Day 1981, it was praised for its “plain, unembellished, utterly sincere and un-self-pitying account of the privations of childhood and youth” (Semmler) and “extremely powerful description of Gallipoli” (Dutton 16). Within weeks, critic Nancy Keesing declared it an “Enduring Classic.” Within six months, it was announced as the winner of two prestigious non-fiction awards, with judges acknowledging Facey’s “extraordinary memory” and “ability to describe scenes and characters with great precision” (“NBC” 4). ' (Introduction)
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Fairy Tale Transformation : The Pied Piper Theme in Australian Fiction,
single work
criticism
'The traditional German tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin inhabits an ambiguous narrative borderland, a liminal space between fact and fiction, fantasy and horror, concrete details and elusive mystery. In his study of the Pied Piper in Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature, Wolfgang Mieder describes how manuscripts and other evidence appear to confirm the historical base of the story. Precise details from a fifteenth-century manuscript, based on earlier sources, specify that in 1284 on the 26th of June, the feast-day of Saints John and Paul, 130 children from Hamelin were led away by a piper clothed in many colours to the Koppen Hill, and there vanished (Mieder 48). Later manuscripts add details familiar today, such as a plague of rats and a broken bargain with burghers as a motive for the Piper’s actions, while in the seventeenth century the first English-language version advances what might also be the first attempt at a “rational” explanation for the children’s disappearance, claiming that they were taken to Transylvania. ' (Introduction)
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Henry Lives! Learning from Lawson Fandom,
single work
criticism
'Since his death in 1922, Henry Lawson’s “spirit” has been kept alive by admirers across Australia. Over the last century, Lawson’s reputation in the academy has fluctuated yet fan support remains robust partly due to the efforts of Lawson societies in Victoria and New South Wales. Support for Lawson remains high in rural communities such as Grenfell and Gulgong in New South Wales which celebrate Lawson’s residence through annual festivals. Although cities have largely rejected the nationalistic cultural heritage that Lawson is seen to represent, the Melbourne-based Henry Lawson Literary and Memorial Society has worked tirelessly to maintain Lawson’s profile and disseminate his writing to the wider community. Through interviews with six members of the HLLM Society and participant observation at their meetings, I consider the ways in which members translate their passion for Lawson into a constellation of activities. Lawson fan practices tend to be celebratory and largely uncritical, an approach which is at odds with academic scholarship that encourages “suspicious” reading (Felski, “Context Stinks!”). Literary theory and criticism, Rita Felski argues, are orientated around a “hermeneutics of suspicion” that promotes a sensibility that prides itself on wariness and hyper-vigilence (Felski, “After Suspicion” 29). The traditional literary critic behaves like a detective, establishing connections and eventually finding a culprit. Instead of reading Lawson’s work suspiciously, HLLM Society members show enormous reverence for it, demonstrating some of the affective pleasures of literature in a social context. ' (Introduction)
