AustLit logo

AustLit

Leigh Dale Leigh Dale i(A4815 works by)
Born: Established: 1963 ;
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Australian Literature in the University Leigh Dale , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature 2020;
1 Topographies of Reception : Thea Astley Leigh Dale , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , December vol. 26 no. 2 2019; (p. 203-216)

'This article is an intervention in debates about the reputation of Australian writers, with specific reference to the career of Thea Astley (and, as a ‘benchmark’, Randolph Stow). It argues that the terrain in which reputations are made and books are valued is complex and uneven, particularly when viewed from regional perspectives. The aim is to shift the focus in ‘reception’ from single fields, such as book sales, literary prizes, critical attention and international recognition, to show a more complex literary ecology within which authors might simultaneously ‘rise’ and ‘fall’ in different ways. The data supporting this claim come from a variety of sources, including newspaper databases, schools and libraries, although the article is ‘preliminary’ in the sense that it does not investigate the substance of the quantitative data compiled — for example, it does not consider in depth the reviews or kinds of stories that were carried in the press. The discussion of reputation aims to keep Astley’s oeuvre and style in view, in order to consider why and how Astley might be ‘neglected’ and how this neglect might be addressed.' (Publication abstract)
1 Tony Birch, The White Girl Leigh Dale , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 79 no. 1 2019; (p. 199-204)
— Review of The White Girl Tony Birch , 2019 single work novel 'Tony Birch is usually identified as an accomplished writer of literary fiction as well as a leading intellectual. His most recent book, The White Girl, has been found wanting by at least one reader, who complains of its “uncommon moral simplicity.” Notwithstanding his praise for Birch’s “limpid grace as a prose writer,” Geordie Williamson finds that the book offers “a rainbow parade of contemporary merits.” The review appeared first in the Australian (which has a paywall). The full review was then posted on a literary reviews blog, by Williamson himself, after parts had been quoted and criticised by a blogger.' (Introduction)
1 y separately published work icon Postcolonial Past & Present : Negotiating Literary and Cultural Geographies : Essays for Paul Sharrad Anne Collett (editor), Leigh Dale (editor), Leiden : Brill , 2018 15424217 2018 anthology criticism

'In Postcolonial Past & Present twelve outstanding scholars of literature, history and visual arts look to those spaces Epeli Hau’ofa has insisted are full not empty, asking what it might mean to Indigenise culture. A new cultural politics demands new forms of making and interpretation that rethink and reroute existing cultural categories and geographies. These ‘makers’ include Mukunda Das, Janet Frame, Xavier Herbert, Tomson Highway, Claude McKay, Marie Munkara, Elsje van Keppel, Albert Wendt, Jane Whiteley and Alexis Wright. Case studies from Canada to the Caribbean, India to the Pacific, and Africa, analyse the productive ways that artists and intellectuals have made sense of turbulent local and global forces. ' (Publication summary)
1 Reading Three Stories of Palm Island Leigh Dale , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic , vol. 16 no. 2 2017;

'After briefly introducing Palm Island and its history as a place of punishment for Indigenous people, this essay looks at how readers respond to three books about Palm: Thea Astley’s The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996), Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man (2008), and Cathy McLennan’s Saltwater (2016). Using reviews posted by contributors to Goodreads, I investigate the colocation of terms which recur in positive reviews, in search of a specific form of reading, described here as “absorption.” Against the publishing and broader cultural conventions which differentiate fiction from non-fiction, the evidence shows that readers who describe themselves as having become absorbed tend also to praise these books for their truth, regardless of genre. The essay proposes some points of reference for thinking about the reading experience, and concludes by briefly noting the limits of using of genre in marketing, reviewing, and studying books. The essay is built on an awareness of the radical imbalance in the distribution of literacy in the region these books depict.'   (Publication abstract)
1 The Impact of Literature Louise D'Arcens , Leigh Dale , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 31 no. 1 2016; (p. 1-12) 'The article discusses issues related to effects of research quality measurement in to consider methods in which the discipline of literary studies is affected by research quality measurement. Topics ddiscussedinclude how scholarship in literary studies can make a difference beyond universities, higher education system and the privilege of a university education, and value for money in research expenditure than in terms of competition within and between universities.' (Publication abstract)
1 No More Boomerang? 'Nigger's Leap' and 'Five Bells' Leigh Dale , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , 1 March vol. 37 no. 1 2013; (p. 48-61) 'This essay argues that Judith Wright's poem "Nigger's Leap" is a reply to Kenneth Slessor's "Five Bells", within the context of discussions about Slessor's and Wright's attitudes towards colonialism and colonial history. The essay also discusses Gail Jones' novel Five Bells and its engagement with Slessor's poem, arguing that metaphors of sound and musical repetition offer a useful way of understanding the structure of Jones' novel and the relationship between novel and poem.' (Author's abstract)
1 The Impact of Literature Leigh Dale , Louise D'Arcens , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , November vol. 28 no. 4 2013; (p. 1-12)
1 [Untitled] Leigh Dale , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 28 no. 3 2013; (p. 100-105)
— Review of Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013 anthology biography criticism
1 Reading English Leigh Dale , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 28 no. 1/2 2013; (p. 1-14)
1 New Literatures 2. Australia Leigh Dale , Chris Tiffin , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Year's Work in English Studies , vol. 91 no. 1 2012; (p. 941-1060) Bibliographical review essay that records and evaluates scholarly writing on Australian literature in 2010.
1 ‘Tinned Literature’? Literary Discussion in The Brisbane Courier (1930) Leigh Dale , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , December vol. 19 no. 2 2012; (p. 190-204) 'To date, histories of literary culture in Queensland have not paid particular attention to newspapers, despite the fact that metropolitan and regional publications carried considerable material that allows us insight into the ways in which books were circulated and evaluated. Reviews and essays sat alongside advertisements run by department stores, specialist retailers, large distributors and newsagents, in turn jostling for attention with interviews with authors, poems, reports of literary gatherings and substantial critical essays. This article offers a ‘case study’ of literary materials in The Brisbane Courier, part of a project on the representation of literature (broadly conceived) in Australian newspapers from 1930. The year 1930 was chosen because the interwar years are so frequently characterised, in discussion of the critical study of Australian literature in particular, as a time of neglect, and the Depression as a catalyst for the gradual narrowing of literary horizons. Our larger aim is to understand this historical period better, as well as to calibrate the discussion of Australian literature against the discussion of literature generally. By focusing on a single year for data collection, we have been able to assemble a rich and detailed picture of ‘talk about books’. This, in turn, has enabled us to analyse the significant differences between, for example, the ways in which books are discussed and represented as commercial and aesthetic objects in regional and metropolitan newspapers (see Dale and Thomson 2010).' [Source : Queensland Review, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 190]
1 ‘Even If They Were to Leave Europe’ : Frankenstein in Tasmania Leigh Dale , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 34 no. 2 2012; (p. 93-101) 'Since the early nineteenth century, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has served as a narrative model for those writing of science and ambition. For example, a contemporary journalist trying to explain the modus operandi of biologist and science entrepreneur J. Craig Venter, who was involved in the first sequencing of the human genome and was leader of the first team to create a cell with a synthetic genome, turned to the protagonist of Shelley’s 1818 novel as a point of reference for a description of his subject:...' (Publication abstract)
1 In a (New) Critical Condition : Accounting for Australian Literatures Leigh Dale , John Bushnell , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Teaching Australian Literature : From Classroom Conversations to National Imaginings 2011; (p. 246-265) 'In 1984 John Docker published a very funny account of the division between Leavisites and New Critics in the English departments at Melbourne and Sydney universities. The title of his book, In a Critical Condition: Reading Australian Literature seemed to hint that Australian literature was on its deathbed. But, in fact, participants in debates about teaching Australian literatures have tended to take for granted that the study of literature itself is an essential part of a secondary school education, and a legitimate part of a tertiary education for those wishing to become teachers; the debate arises from different ideas about what should be taught and how. The title of this essay, however, hints at a new level of concern about the state of teaching of Australian literatures. This concern arises from the fact that schools and universities have been shaped by dramatically intensified demands that outcomes be quantified, and quality evaluated. It is the premise of this essay that these demands have had, and will have, a far greater effect on the teaching of literature than disciplinary debates in literary studies, broadly conceived. Thus, this essay seeks to move work and workplace cultures to the centre of the discussion.' (Authors' introduction, 246)
1 New Literatures. 2. Australia Leigh Dale , Chris Tiffin , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Year's Work in English Studies , vol. 90 no. 1 2011; (p. 911-1029) Bibliographical review essay that records and evaluates scholarly writing on Australian literature published in 1998. The essay is divided into four parts: General; Fiction; Poetry; Drama.
1 1 Rereading Barbara Baynton's Bush Studies Leigh Dale , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Texas Studies in Literature and Language , Winter vol. 53 no. 4 2011; (p. 369-386) 'This essay ... sets out an argument that the value of Baynton's work lies in the coherence of the stories in Bush Studies. The work should be read as a suite, the contrast between the six stories casting new light on each, rather than being simply contradictory or inept. This essay contends that the striking consistency of theme and topos, contrasted with the diversity of style that has so far been the main attraction and puzzle for critics, offers cues for reading the then emerging category of "bush" writing that was said to be distinctively Australian. In so doing, I am taking issue with much of the published criticism on Baynton, a disputation largely confined to footnotes' (p. 369).
1 New Literatures. 2. Australia Leigh Dale , Chris Tiffin , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Years Work in English Studies , vol. 89 no. 1 2010; (p. 999-1026)
1 y separately published work icon Australian Literary Studies ALS vol. 25 no. 1 May Damien Barlow (editor), Leigh Dale (editor), 2010 Z1720983 2010 periodical issue
1 Introduction : The AustLit Anthology of Criticism Leigh Dale , Linda Hale , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The AustLit Anthology of Criticism 2010; (p. 1)
1 2 y separately published work icon The AustLit Anthology of Criticism Leigh Dale , Linda Hale , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2010 Z1679436 2010 anthology criticism The articles collected here have been selected with non-specialist readers in mind and aim to provide insights and valuable understandings into the works of important Australian writers. Upper secondary and lower tertiary students and general readers will find these articles useful for the study of leading Australian writers whether that is happening in years 11 and 12; first, second and third year university courses; or reading groups.
X