AustLit

'In her foreword, Paula Leverage is right to say that this volume, notwithstanding its title’s suggestion of the blossoming of a field, is more a “powerful statement about the human experience and its expression in a modern world” (xii). Although a range of contemporary Australian literary texts are analysed in light of theories of “embodied cognition” (xiii), there is nothing prescriptive or categorical about the overall approach of the contributors.' (Introduction)

'In the 1970s, the loosening of the censorship laws and sexual mores enabled the countercultural Balmain Group to indulge in libertine literary representations which opened up new perspectives in Australian literature. Among them, let us mention freedom of sexual expressiveness, the broadening of the Australian erotic fiction repertoire, the addition of a new dimension to realism, daring depictions of alternative lifestyles and sexualities, the challenging of mainstream heteronormativity, the expression of a subversive counter-culture, the expansion of the boundaries of the Australian novel genre. These new approaches to sexuality, as evidenced by explicit sex scenes probing a wide range of sexual practices, have shaped a sexual revolution in print and a counter-cultural art of dealing with dirt (understood as licentious subject-matter) which my paper will try to conceptualise. I shall restrict my scope to material published in the 1970s by analysing the prose written by some of the Balmain Group authors such as Frank Moorhouse and Michael Wilding.' (Publication abstract)

'This unique book on neurocognitive interpretations of Australian literature covers a wide range of analyses by discussing Australian Literary Studies, Aboriginal literary texts, women writers, ethnic writing, bestsellers, neurodivergence fiction, emerging as well as high profile writers, literary hoaxes and controversies, book culture, LGBTIQA+ authors, to name a few. It eclectically brings together a wide gamut of cognitive concepts and literary genres at the intersection of Australian literary studies and cognitive literary studies in the first single-author volume of its kind. It takes Australian Literary Studies into the age of neuroawareness and provides new pathways in contemporary criticism.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Liborum necesse est se faciat amatorem. Perhaps, as this Latin proverb suggests, it is necessary to fall in love with books, to turn them into lovers. But what happens when this passionate love affair spins out of control? In The Book Thief (2005), Markus Zusak's novel aimed equally at young adult and adult readers, the eponymous protagonist rarely engages with books because they afford stories of enchanting and enchaining interest. Rather, Liesel Meminger seems to hunt and enjoy books for quite different reasons than the delights of storytelling and pure entertainment. I first explore the laws of attraction which make books so beguiling to Liesel, before examining if this impulsive obsession of acquiring books has not become a blatant symptom of bibliomania, and more specifically of bibliokleptomania. After discussing the psychodynamical perception of what is often referred to as book madness, I shall demonstrate these printed works in Markus Zusak's novel are much more than mere storytelling as they fulfil specific functions, all of which challenge the normative way of seeing texts, literary and otherwise.'

Source: Abstract.

'This survey essay aims to map out the rise of the Australian neurohumanities by contextualising at a global and national level what is gradually shaping up as a new direction in Australian literary criticism. This cognitive literary history of Australian criticism begins with a definition and contextualisation of cognitive Australian literary studies and goes on to offer a bird’s eye view of cognitive-inspired fiction and nonfiction. This introductory chapter posits that the cognitive literary studies approach to Australian literature could be construed as a promising way to expand and refresh the field of Australian literary studies while generating interdisciplinarity. By providing a couple of specific examples of ground-breaking neurocognitive readings of Australian novels, the researcher at once challenges the resistance proffered by the curators of traditional fields and paves the way for promising overtures in the humanities.'

Source: Abstract.

'This exciting one-of-a-kind volume brings together new contributions by geographically diverse authors who range from early career researchers to well-established scholars in the field.

'It unprecedentedly showcases a wide variety of the latest research at the intersection of Australian literary studies and cognitive literary studies in a single volume.

'It takes Australian fiction on the leading edge by paving the way for a new direction in Australian literary criticism.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Analysing one of Peter Carey’s hallmarks—fact vs fake or fiction, truth vs untruth —, this article explores the wide-ranging implications and ramifications of the Ern Malley affair in Peter Carey’s My Life as a Fake, a story published in 2003, but which still resonates in 2020 given the current global attention for “fake news” and “fake truths” often used in Donald Trump’s toxic propaganda. This timely recovery of a debate in Australian literature that started in the 1990s is instrumental in making a case for rigorous textual analysis while tying it up with questions of legitimacy which have always haunted colonial and postcolonising Australia. By probing the text/context issue and linking it to the critique of New Criticism’s isolation of the text from contemporary circumstances as insufficient to capture textual meaning fully or appropriately, Vernay’s analysis attempts at reconciling the word and the world.'

Source: Abstract.

'Following the publication of Nam Le’s On David Malouf, Black Inc has now released the sixth volume in the Writers on Writers Series. Fiction writer Michelle De Kretser, twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award, has been put to contribution to discuss the works and literary career of Shirley Hazzard. It is noteworthy that On Shirley Hazzard is her first published nonfiction book and chiefly comes across as a labour of love.' (Introduction)

'In her essay on suburbia, Helen Garner discusses the politics of location in Australia and how real estate, or an acute political sense of place, seems to situate people on the social scale. Back in the 1990s, Helen Garner lived in Sydney’s poshest eastern suburbs (Elizabeth Bay and Bellevue Hill), from which Western Sydney seems to be unaccessible, somewhat too remote to explore, and possibly an eyesore which is best left out of sight. As her essay ends on Gerald Murnane’s tribute to these “lower-middle-class suburbs that no one ever goes to or hears about in the news”(1), Murnane’s recitation of the various modest streets in which he lived in his youth surreptitiously morphs into “a splendid and mysterious poem.”(2) What was perhaps to be primarily taken as a solemn moment of sincerity has been sublimated through Garner’s writing skills. These fine creative skills are largely shared by Peter Polites. Barring the lyrical gloss and sentimentality.' (Introduction) 

'Bildungsromane are often debut or early novels by writers who relate part of their youthful experiences by means of an archetypal growing-older-and-wiser narrative in which the adolescent theme is paired with other concerns such as growth, identity and independence. This article examines the strong Bildungsroman streak which pervades half of Koch’s multifaceted novels by highlighting the main characteristics of the genre. The discussion of the transformation element in these novels, of tensions between change and changelessness, and of the writer’s conceptual use of metaphors, will draw attention to Koch’s postcolonial project.'

Source: Abstract.

'If one were to pool all the relevant evidence culled from his occasional excoriations of Australian academia, one would soon realise that Patrick White (1912-1990) was hardly ever generous with local researchers, despite the bountiful critical attention he received from them. Entrusting Christos Tsiolkas — a fellow writer outside of the scholarly arena — with the daunting task of reading and writing an appreciation of the entire opus of Australia’s sole Nobel-Prize for Literature therefore comes across as a rather shrewd editorial strategy.' (Introduction)

'When the French edition of my book came out in 2009, Simon Caterson argued "that only an outsider can fully appreciate the big cultural picture". When the Australian edition was released in 2016, Nicholas Jose also observed that “The outside gaze illuminates what the insider cannot see, especially when that gaze focuses on what most distinguishes the inside, what makes it what it is.” There seems to be two distinct assumptions meshed into one observation: that as an outsider I would have a vantage point to discuss Australian fiction, and that my ringside view would be specifically informed by my French background.

'In this article I discuss whether I actually have a French view on Australian novels and whether my outsider’s perspective gives me an unquestioned vantage point to discuss Australian fiction.'

Source: Abstract.

'Grab the popcorn, sit back and let the story of Australian literature roll ...

'From Jean-François Vernay, A Brief Take on the Australian Novel offers a sweeping view of Australian writing since colonialism. Written from an outsider's perspective, this single-authored overview will appeal to readers through its playful, jargon-free and potentially contentious account of the Australian novel. Vernay offers a unique and insightful perspective on Australian literature.

'Like a film narrator, he speaks directly to the reader, offering close-ups on particular works alongside panoramic views of the literary landscape. One can imagine the reader as part of an audience in a darkened cinema, absorbed in exciting action on the silver screen.' (Publication summary)