AustLit

'Patrick White is a giant among the moderns. His massive novels, which chart the lonely paths to truth, challenge orthodox notions about fiction and reality. He has created a wholly new kind of prose to embody his prophetic visions of truth and his fierce denunciations of modern society.

'Originally published in 1984, John Colmer’s study of the Nobel Prize winning Australian novelist was the first to survey all his published works. It differs from earlier studies in using fresh autobiographical material, in revealing the links between the plays and the fiction and in stressing White’s vision of duality rather than his much praised affirmations of harmony. Where previous studies have been exegetical this one is also evaluative. It illustrates the process by which White has come to recognize the necessity for the reintegration of the alienated visionary into society.' (Publication summary)

'Poetics and Politics of Relationality in Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Fiction is the first sustained study of the formal particularities of works by Bruce Pascoe, Kim Scott, Tara June Winch, and Alexis Wright. Drawing on a rich theoretical framework that includes approaches to relationality by Aboriginal thinkers, Edouard Glissant, and Jean-Luc Nancy, and recent work in New Formalism and narrative theory, it illustrates how they use a broad range of narrative techniques to mediate, negotiate, and temporarily create networks of relations that interlink all elements of the universe. Through this focus on relationality, Aboriginal writing gains both local and global significance. Locally, these narratives assert Indigenous sovereignty by staging an unbroken interrelatedness of people and their Land. Globally, they intervene into current discourses about humanity’s relationship with the natural environment, urging readers to acknowledge our interrelatedness with and dependence on the land that sustains us.' (Publication summary)

'From the forests of the tales of the Brothers’ Grimm to Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree, from the flowers of Cicely May Barker’s fairies to the treehouse in Andy Griffith and Terry Denton’s popular 13 Story Treehouse series, trees and other plants have been enduring features of stories for children and young adults. Plants act as gateways to other worlds, as liminal spaces, as markers of permanence and change, and as metonyms of childhood and adolescence. This anthology is the first compilation devoted entirely to analysis of the representation of plants in children’s and young adult literatures, reflecting the recent surge of interest in cultural plant studies within the Environmental Humanities.

'Mapping out and presenting an internationally inclusive　view of plant representation　in texts for children and young adults, the volume includes contributions examining European, American, Australian and Asian literatures　and contributes to the research fields of ecocriticism, critical plant studies and　the study of　children’s and young adult literatures.' (Publication summary)

'Australian Genre Film interrogates key genres at the core of Australia’s so-called new golden age of genre cinema, establishing the foundation on which more sustained research on film genre in Australian cinema can develop.

'The book examines what characterises Australian cinema and its output in this new golden age, as contributors ask to what extent Australian genre film draws on widely understood (and largely Hollywood-based) conventions, as compared to culturally specific conventions of genre storytelling. As such, this book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Australian genre film, undertaken through original analyses of 13 significant Australian genres: action, biopics, comedy, crime, horror, musical, road movie, romance, science fiction, teen, thriller, war, and the Western.

'This book will be a cornerstone work for the burgeoning field of Australian film genre studies and a must-read for academics; researchers; undergraduate students; postgraduate students; and general readers interested in film studies, media studies, cultural studies, Australian studies, and sociology.' (Publication summary)