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Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 Thinking in a Regional Accent : New Ways of Contemplating Australian Writers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Who would have guessed that a rejuvenation of regional difference might be triggered by a plague? Cosmopolitan Melbourne became the epicentre of what Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called the ‘Victorian wave’. Borders, the leitmotif of Australian politics since Tampa, suddenly became internal. My own state of Western Australia was sued for breach of the Australian Constitution for maintaining its ‘hard’ internal borders. Wonted barbs flowing between states now felt just a little personal. Interstate rivalry in Australia is not uncommon, with familiar stoushes over GST share, the Murray– Darling Basin, the location of naval shipbuilding, and the hosting of sporting events. But the idea that Australia has internal borders, not just to check fruit but to stop the movement of people, Australian people, is something that has only emerged with Covid-19.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 426 November 2020 20739577 2020 periodical issue

    'Welcome to the November issue! On our cover is a very young Hessom Razavi, the ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellow. In his cover article, Hessom relates his family’s trials after the Iranian Revolution, their flight to Australia, and his awareness of the immense ordeals facing refugees in Australia’s immigration centres. Tony Hughes-d’Aeth examines regional differences in Australian writing and considers the ways regional factors can influence authors. Gideon Haigh is underwhelmed by Book Woodward’s new book, Rage, and asks if Trump’s presidency has rendered traditional journalism impossible. James Ley finds much to admire in Richard Flanagan’s new novel, as does Beejay Silcox with Elena Ferrante’s first novel since the Neapolitan quartet. Susan Wyndham reviews the new novel by Craig Silvey, who is the subject of Open Page. And Judith Bishop is our Poet of the Month.' (Publication summary)

    2020
    pg. 24-26

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Tony Hughes-d'Aeth on Australia's Literary Regionalism Tony Hughes-d'Aeth (presenter), Southbank : Australian Book Review, Inc. , 2020 23439628 2020 single work podcast

'Is it possible to parse Australian writers by states and territories? In today's episode, Tony Hughes-d'Aeth – Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia – speculates about new ways of contemplating Australian writers through the lens of regionalism. As he writes in his upcoming essay 'Thinking in a regional accent: New ways of contemplating Australian writers': 'Yes, we are divided into states and territories, but are these anything other than lines on a map, drawn with a ruler and a set square, and the occasional river? The contrast between the political map of Australia and the now iconic AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia graphically exposes the poverty of the Australian regional imagination and the essential irreality of our territorial demarcations. More particularly, for someone like me, is it right to conceive of Australia in terms of literary regions?'' (Production summary)

y separately published work icon Tony Hughes-d'Aeth on Australia's Literary Regionalism Tony Hughes-d'Aeth (presenter), Southbank : Australian Book Review, Inc. , 2020 23439628 2020 single work podcast

'Is it possible to parse Australian writers by states and territories? In today's episode, Tony Hughes-d'Aeth – Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia – speculates about new ways of contemplating Australian writers through the lens of regionalism. As he writes in his upcoming essay 'Thinking in a regional accent: New ways of contemplating Australian writers': 'Yes, we are divided into states and territories, but are these anything other than lines on a map, drawn with a ruler and a set square, and the occasional river? The contrast between the political map of Australia and the now iconic AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia graphically exposes the poverty of the Australian regional imagination and the essential irreality of our territorial demarcations. More particularly, for someone like me, is it right to conceive of Australia in terms of literary regions?'' (Production summary)

Last amended 11 Nov 2020 09:22:36
24-26 Thinking in a Regional Accent : New Ways of Contemplating Australian Writerssmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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