AustLit

The Boat by Nam Le is a collection of short stories set in a range of locations including Iowa City, New York City, Colombia, Hiroshima, and Tehran. The Boat is a collection that examines the ‘old verities’ of love, honour, pity and pride, while also depicting a contemporary, global world.

– Part One of this exhibition examines the idea of 'ethnic' literature.

– Part Two examines possible real-life inspirations for Le's stories.

– Part Three touches on the metafictional quality of 'Love and Honor'.

– Part Four draws together critical commentary on the book. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit The Boat Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with Brumby Innes.

– Part One provides an overview of Brumby Innes, its author Katharine Susannah Prichard, and some background to the play's genesis.

– Part Two provides information on the play's prize-winning, initial reception and its long-delayed first production.

– Part Three focuses on the play's themes of landscape, sexual relations, race relations, and Indigenous culture.

– Part Four briefly places Prichard's play within the context of Australian drama in the first half of the 20th century.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the Brumby Innes Information Trail

Alexis Wright's Carpentaria is set in the Gulf of Carpentaria region in a fictional town called Desperance. The novel follows the interactions of and tensions between various local residents and groups, including Indigenous residents, white officials, and a mining company.

– Part One of this trail focuses on the representation of time within the novel.

– Part Two examines the depiction of the rubbish dump.

– Part Three draws together more general information such as reviews of the book. The trail concludes with a list of interviews of Wright and suggestions for further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Carpentaria Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with The Chapel Perilous, a play by Dorothy Hewett.

– Part One provides an overview of The Chapel Perilous, its author Dorothy Hewett, and some background to the play.

– Part Two highlights Hewett's separation, as a West Australian, from the mainstream of Australian literary developments in the 1960s and 1970s.

– Part Three focuses on the play's portrayal of a female character in a restrictive society.

– Part Four places Hewett's play within the context of the 'New Wave' theatre movement.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit The Chapel Perilous Information Trail

Cloudstreet (1991) by Tim Winton is a novel set in mid-20th century Perth.

This trail provides useful information and links to provide context and further reading.

– Part One discusses the novel's historical and geographical contexts.

– Part Two examines the novel's publishing and literary contexts.

– Part Three draws together some critical responses to Cloudstreet.

The trail finishes with links to interviews and reviews. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Cloudstreet Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with A Fortunate Life.

– Part One provides an overview of A Fortunate Life and its author, and its adaptation for television.

– Part Two examines Facey's text as an example of autobiographical writing, highlighting factual anomalies, the transition of a life story from an oral to a written version, and the narrative impact of Facey's limited literacy (including his use of language).

– Part Three focuses some of the major themes in A Fortunate Life: World War I and childhood.

– Part Four looks at A Fortunate Life through the lens of mythmaking.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider, contemporaneous reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the A Fortunate Life Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Comprising Australia Felix, The Way Home, Ultima Thule by 'Henry Handel Richardson'.

– Part One provides an overview of The Fortunes of Richard Mahony and its author Henry Handel Richardson. It also highlights some of the sources used by Richardson in developing The Fortunes, and notes the meaning of the trilogy's three titles, its structure, its initial critical reception, and its adaptations.

– Part Two examines Richardson's characterisations of Richard and Mary Mahony, and of their marriage.

– Part Three focuses on the themes of home, exile and return in The Fortunes of Richard Mahony.

– Part Four situates The Fortunes of Richard Mahony in discussions about the 'Great Australian Novel'.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit The Fortunes of Richard Mahony Information Trail

Look Who’s Morphing by Tom Cho is a collection of short stories in which a narrator, also called Tom, has surreal experiences in a range of situations. Deeply influenced by pop culture and highly intertextual and self-reflexive in nature, the collection references movies including Dirty Dancing, The Exorcist, and The Bodyguard. This intertextuality extends to the title of the book, which echoes the title of the 1989 Amy Heckerling film Look Who's Talking.

This trail below collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with the collection.

– Part One examines the book's pop culture references.

– Part Two discusses the self-reflexivity and autobiographical elements in the stories.

– Part Three draws together some of Cho's discussions of his work. The trail draws to a close by listing interviews, book reviews, and further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Look Who's Morphing Information Trail

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta is a story about family relationships, identity, and growing up. It is set in Sydney.

– Part One of this trail looks at the novel's historical and geographical settings.

– Part Two looks at its various representations of identity.

– Part Three draws together critical responses to the novel. The trail finishes by providing links to interviews with the author and suggestions for further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Looking for Alibrandi Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with Mother I'm Rooted: An Anthology of Australian Women Poets.

– Part One provides an overview of Mother I'm Rooted, its editor Kate Jennings and the genesis of the anthology.

– Part Two highlights the socio-political and literary period within which Mother I'm Rooted was published.

– Part Three focuses on the anthology's design, its poets, its contents and its reception.

– Part Four situates Mother I'm Rooted on the continuum of women's poetry anthologies.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the Mother I'm Rooted Information Trail

My Brilliant Career tells the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a strong-willed young woman of the 1890s growing up in the Goulburn area of New South Wales and longing to be a writer. Franklin has left a remarkable legacy not only in terms of her writing, her archive, and her fascinating life, but also in the establishment of the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with My Brilliant Career.

– Part One looks at Miles Franklin's world.

– Part Two looks at the impact of feminism on the novel's adaptation into film.

– Part Three examines gender, ideas of literary value and literary awards.

– Parts Four and Five give links to scholarly articles, reviews, and other further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the My Brilliant Career Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with Race against Time by Lee Cataldi.

– Part One provides an overview of Race against Time, its author Lee Cataldi, and Cataldi's publishing output.

– Part Two highlights the influence of the Australian landscape and of the Warlpiri people on Cataldi's poetry.

– Part Three focuses on Cataldi's poetic style.

– Part Four places Cataldi's poetry within the context of the 'Generation of '68' poets.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the Race against Time Information Trail

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas is a novel that examines social mores, conflict and domestic life in early-21st century Melbourne. The book stirred significant debate among readers and was adapted into a successful television series.

– Part One of this trail examines the broad appeal of the book and the discussion it generated.

– Part Two examines multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism in The Slap and in Tsiolkas's work more generally.

– Part Three examines the connections between sexuality and politics that appear in The Slap and Tsiolkas's earlier work. The trail concludes with book reviews, interviews, and suggestions for further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit The Slap Information Trail

Stasiland tells the stories of people who lived in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In the book, Australian writer Anna Funder talks to people about their experiences of life under the surveillance of the Ministry for State Security, also known as the Stasi. She also talks to some of the Stasi men.

This trail provides useful information and links to provide context and further reading. It is organised in four parts.

Visit the Stasiland Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with Such Is Life: Being Certain Extracts from the Diary of Tom Collins, by Joseph Furphy.

– Part One provides an overview of Such Is Life and its author, Joseph Furphy (aka 'Tom Collins').

– Part Two focuses on the revision, publication history and reception of Such Is Life.

– Part Three looks at the structure of Such Is Life.

– Part Four highlights aspects of Furphy's novel including literary allusions, and nationalism and nation-making.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the Such is Life Information Trial 

or Explore AustLit's Joseph Furphy Digital Archive

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, a play by Ray Lawler.

– Part One provides an overview of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, its author Ray Lawler, and the play's genesis and early productions.

– Part Two highlights Lawler's creation of The Doll Trilogy and the adaptation of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll to radio drama, cinema, opera and theatrical fantasy.

– Part Three focuses on the structure and language of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and its major themes including bush/urban and masculine/feminine binaries.

– Part Four looks at Summer of the Seventeenth Doll's place in Australian theatre history.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Information Trail

This trail brings together a range of useful resources and links to online material to enhance readers' encounters with this powerful first book by Wiradjuri writer, Tara June Winch.

– Part One examines the places in which the book is set or that have influenced Winch.

– Part Two examines history, identity and writing, and it includes links to resources about the Stolen Generations and the Indigenous leader Windradyne.

– Part Three details what happened next in Winch's career, and it is followed by suggestions for further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Swallow the Air Information Trail

This trail collects a range of items to enhance readers' engagement with To the Islands by Randolph Stow.

– Part One provides an overview of To the Islands, its author Randolph Stow, and some background to the novel's genesis and setting.

– Part Two highlights the role of William Shakespeare's King Lear as a model for Stow's protagonist in To the Islands.

– Part Three focuses on the novel's themes of alienation, journey and home, and of expiation and reconciliation.

– Part Four places Stow's novel within the context of developments in Australian literature during the 1950s.

– Part Five offers suggestions for wider reading.

– Part Six provides tips for further research.

Visit the To the Islands Information Trail

Voss by Patrick White is a novel about an explorer and the woman he secretly loves. It won the first Miles Franklin Literary Award, in 1957.

– Part One of this trail examines space and place in Voss.

– Part Two examines the relationship between the real-life explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and the character of Voss.

– Part Three examines the sacred in Voss. The trail concludes by drawing together resources that discuss White's legacy, and providing suggestions for further reading. Some of these critical works and other resources are available to read online.

Visit the Voss Information Trail