AustLit
Texts
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The Drover's Wife 1975 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Tabloid Story , 28 June no. 15 1975; (p. 36-38) Contemporary Portraits and Other Stories 1975; (p. 55-61) The National Times , 5-10 January 1976; (p. 27) The Most Beautiful Lies : A Collection of Stories by Five Major Contemporary Fiction Writers: Bail, Carey, Lurie, Moorhouse and Wilding 1977; (p. 5-10) The Tabloid Story Pocket Book 1978; (p. 258-267) Spectrum Three : Experimental Short Stories 1979; (p. 53-56)
— Appears in: Crocevia : Scritture Straniere, Migranti e di Viaggio , Estate vol. 5/6 no. 2005; (p. 76-80) -
War Crimes 1979 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: War Crimes : Short Stories 1979; (p. 241-282) The Fat Man in History 1980; The Fat Man in History 1990; (p. 163-192) Collected Stories 1994; (p. 310-337) -
A Hedge of Rosemary 1967 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Westerly , no. 2 1967; (p. 18-22) Five Acre Virgin and Other Stories 1976; (p. 69-75) Stories : Five Acre Virgin, The Travelling Entertainer 1984; (p. 90-97) The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Stories 1986; (p. 205-210) Secret Lives : Thirty-four Modern Australian Short Stories 2003; (p. 279-288) -
The Tractor 1964 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , March vol. 23 no. 1 1964; (p. 19-31) The Empty Street : Stories 1965; (p. 53-66) Coast to Coast : Australian Stories 1963-1964 1965; (p. 15-27) Modern Australian Writing 1966; (p. 124-140) Short Stories of Australia : The Moderns 1967; (p. 61-74) Best Australian Short Stories 1971; (p. 281-294) -
Happiness 1927 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: The Bulletin (Xmas edition) , 10 December 1927; (p. 11,13-14) Kiss On the Lips and Other Stories 1932; (p. 107-132) Australian Round-Up : Stories From 1790 to 1950 1953; (p. 225-237) Happiness : Selected Short Stories 1967; (p. 1-16) The Penguin Book of Australian Short Stories 1976; (p. 87-100) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1986; (p. 43-55) -
The Drover's Wife 1892 single work short story (taught in 3 units)
— Appears in: Aus einer neuen Literatur : Australische Erzählungen und Plaudereien 1906; The Drover's Wife : A Celebration of a Great Australian Love Affair 2017; (p. 3-14)
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 July vol. 12 no. 649 1892; (p. 21-22) Short Stories in Prose and Verse 1894; (p. 26-39) While the Billy Boils 1896; (p. 127-138) The Bulletin Story Book : A Selection of Stories and Literary Sketches from 'The Bulletin' [1881-1901] 1901; (p. 75-83) The Observer , 17 April vol. 72 no. 5537 1915; (p. 4) Australian Short Stories 1928; (p. 176-185)
— Appears in: The School Paper for Classes V and VI , August no. 143 1911; (p. 106-109) The School Paper for Grades VII and VIII , March no. 299 1925; (p. 18-21) The School Paper : Grades VII and VIII , February no. 309 1926; (p. 2-5) The School Paper : Grades VII and VIII , September no. 349 1929; (p. 122-125) Victorian Readers : Fifth Book 1930; (p. 24-29) Victorian Readers : Fifth Book 1940; (p. 22-27)
— Appears in: Cerita Dari Australia 1974; (p. 4-31)
— Appears in: Australische Erzähler von Marcus Clarke bis Patrick White 1984; (p. 36-44)
— Appears in: Crocevia : Scritture Straniere, Migranti e di Viaggio , Estate vol. 5/6 no. 2005; (p. 69-75)First appearing in The Bulletin in 1892, Henry Lawson's short story 'The Drovers Wife' is today regarded as a seminal work in the Australian literary tradition. Noted for it's depiction of the bush as harsh, potentially threatening and both isolated and isolating, the story opens with a simple enough premise: an aggressive--and presumably deadly--snake disrupts the working life of a bushwoman and her young children. Brave but cautious, the woman resolves to protect her children since her husband is, characteristically, away from home and of no help.
As time passes within the story, tension builds, and the snake's symbolic threat takes on layers of meaning as the sleepless heroine recalls previous challenges she faced while her husband was away. A series of flashbacks and recollections propel the story through the single night over which it takes place, and by the time the climax arrives--the confrontation with the snake--readers have learned much about the heroine's strengths and fears, most of the latter involving the loss of children and dark figures who encroach upon her small, vulnerable homestead. To be sure, this "darkness" is highly symbolic, and Lawson's use of imagery invokes Western notions of good and evil as well as gendered and racial stereotypes.
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The Union Buries Its Dead The Union Buries Its Dead : A Bushman's Funeral. A Sketch from Life 1893 single work short story humour (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Short Stories in Prose and Verse 1894; (p. 46-53) While the Billy Boils 1896; (p. 91-97) Capajon : Fifty-Four Short Stories Published 1921-1933 1933; (p. 324-328) A Century of Australian Short Stories 1963; (p. 65-68) The Bush Undertaker and Other Stories 1970; (p. 25-29) While the Billy Boils : 87 Stories from the Prose Works of Henry Lawson 1970; (p. 55 - 59)
— Appears in: Truth , 16 April 1893; While the Billy Boils : The Original Newspaper Versions 2013; (p. 100-108) Describes a bush funeral. -
Lizards 1983 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Headlocks & Other Stories 1983; (p. 17-27) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1986; (p. 292-300) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1992; (p. 276-284) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1994; (p. 270-279) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 2002; (p. 324-334) Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 1066-1073) -
A Person of Accomplishment 1982 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Selected Stories 1982; (p. 111-122) Australian Short Stories 1983; (p. 325-337) Selected Stories 1985; (p. 111-122) The Americans, Baby : A Discontinuous Narrative of Stories and Fragments 1988; (p. 133-147)
Description
The course also included more than 50 other short stories from Britain, Ireland, Candada, Africa, South Asia, New Zealand and the Carribean