AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'If a national literature is composed of the varieties of ways that inhabitants construct and represent their experiences over time, then Australia does not yet possess a national literature. Rather "Australian literature" is a sub-set of English literature which does not acknowledge the literary and cultural traditions of a third of the population. The philosophy behind "Striking Chords" is to move debates beyond the current artificial opposition between multiculturalism and Australian culture so that the latter is enriched by the inclusion of the former. Migration is, after all, part of the tradition of all non-Aboriginal Australians. "Striking Chords" is aimed at teachers at all levels of the educational sector who are interested in but puzzled by this new field and these new writers as well as at members of the general public who would also like to know more about these changes in our culture. It is not merely concerned with multiculturalism, although this is its departure and remains its main focus. It also encompasses the supposed split between writers and critics; community versus the so-called mainstream of writing; minorities within minorities; and gender, where the different ways in which men and women position themselves in these debates is of substantial interest. "Sneja Gunew is an Associate Professor at Deakin University. Kateryna Longley is a Senior Lecturer at Murdoch University.".' (Publication summary)
Contents
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Necessary Idiocy and the Idea of Freedom,
single work
criticism
biography
I would like to tell you a simple story. This story comes to me by way of Robert Bly, the American poet. Writers, he says, need to preserve their frogskins. Frog-skins, not foreskins; though writing can be something of a circumcision when forced into categories — some-thing between public ritual and private pain. To counteract this phallocentrism let me offer you the metaphor of writing as woman, not only as the re-pressed, but as the source. (Introduction)
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Lines of Communication: Meaning in the Migrant Environment,
single work
criticism
Paul Carter analyses migrant names and their significance for identity.
- Fifth World, single work criticism (p. 19-28)
- Multicultural Aesthetics: A Preliminary Definition (for Gun Gencer and Nihat Ziyalan), single work criticism (p. 29-35)
- PMT (Post Modernist Tensions): Reading for (Multi)cultural Difference, single work criticism (p. 36-46)
- Statement, single work criticism (p. 49-50)
- Paradox of the Empty Socks (or, Slowing Down to Hurry Up), single work prose (p. 51-54)
- The Greek Dimensions of Australian Literature, single work criticism (p. 55-64)
- About Multicultural Writing, single work criticism (p. 65-66)
- Teething Pains, single work criticism (p. 67-69)
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The Literary and Paraliterary Expression of the Italo-Australian Migrant Experience,
single work
criticism
(p. 70-80)
Note: See also pp. 236-239
- Neither Here Nor There, Left Nor Right Nor Centre: Functioning as a Multicultural Writer in Australia, single work criticism autobiography (p. 81-85)
- Multicultural Australian Literature and Me, single work criticism (p. 86-91)
- Life Makes Some Strange Connections, single work criticism (p. 92-95)
- Writing from a Non-Anglo Perspective, single work criticism (p. 96-98)
- Before the Migrant Writer: Judah Waten and the Shaping of a Literary Career, single work criticism (p. 101-110)
- Letter in Response to a Questionnaire, single work criticism (p. 111-114)
- Mena Abdullah, Australian Writer, single work criticism (p. 115-124)
- Instead of a Statement, single work criticism (p. 125-128)
- `In Australia, We Read it Differently...' : Interculturality and the Theory of Literary Criticism, single work criticism (p. 129-145)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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An Uneasy Conversation: The Multicultural and the Indigenous
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Race, Colour and Identity in Australia and New Zealand 2000; (p. 21-36)'In Australia there have been for a long time two distinct yet connect-led public and intellectual debates concerning the significance of descent, belonging and culture. One revolves around the cleavage between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and especially the status of indigenous claims deriving from a history of colonisation. It is about land, health, heritage, housing, intellectual property, identity, education, 'stolen children', and much else as well. The other debate centres on the immigrant, and his or her challenge to Australian society at large. It focuses on the non-British immigrant and the notion of multiculturalism, and is about cultural diversity, ethnic politics, and immigration policy. In this chapter I develop the argument that these two debates can neither be conceptualised together nor maintained as fully distinct. As a result of the public debates on both indigenous and immigration policies triggered by independent member of parliament Pauline Hanson in 1996, they converged and interacted in the later 1990s to a greater degree than at any time in the previous two centuries. Yet their conversation remains uneasy.' (Introduction)
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Untitled
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian-Canadian Studies , vol. 11 no. 1&2 1993; (p. 167-170)
— Review of Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
`Nice Work' Shared Around
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Multicultural Book Review , vol. 1 no. 1993; (p. 6-9)
— Review of Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Discoursing of Multiculturalism
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Meridian , October vol. 12 no. 2 1993; (p. 176-181)
— Review of Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Beyond Multicultural Writing to Redefining Australian Literature
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Typereader , Autumn no. 7 1992; (p. 5-10) In this, the opening editorial to this issue of Typereader, Sneja Gunew argues: 'If we are really attempting to create something new then we must stop making England and English culture the inevitable and privileged reference point for defining our own difference' (9).
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Agreeing to Disagree
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February-March no. 138 1992; (p. 16-18)
— Review of Australian Literary Studies vol. 15 no. 2 1991 periodical issue anthology ; Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Untitled
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 19 no. 2 1992; (p. 156-161)
— Review of Australian Literary Studies vol. 15 no. 2 1991 periodical issue anthology ; Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography ; Images of Australia : An Introductory Reader in Australian Studies 1992 anthology -
Forecasts
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , November vol. 71 no. 1021 1991; (p. 18)
— Review of Mother and Son : Five Award-Winning Scripts from the ABC TV Series 1992 selected work drama criticism ; Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Multiculturalism
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 13 March vol. 58 no. 27 1992; (p. 18)
— Review of Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Delicious and Disobedient to the Bounds of Culture
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 25 April 1992; (p. 7)
— Review of Striking Chords : Multicultural Literary Interpretations 1992 anthology criticism prose poetry autobiography -
Beyond Multicultural Writing to Redefining Australian Literature
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Typereader , Autumn no. 7 1992; (p. 5-10) In this, the opening editorial to this issue of Typereader, Sneja Gunew argues: 'If we are really attempting to create something new then we must stop making England and English culture the inevitable and privileged reference point for defining our own difference' (9). -
An Uneasy Conversation: The Multicultural and the Indigenous
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Race, Colour and Identity in Australia and New Zealand 2000; (p. 21-36)'In Australia there have been for a long time two distinct yet connect-led public and intellectual debates concerning the significance of descent, belonging and culture. One revolves around the cleavage between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and especially the status of indigenous claims deriving from a history of colonisation. It is about land, health, heritage, housing, intellectual property, identity, education, 'stolen children', and much else as well. The other debate centres on the immigrant, and his or her challenge to Australian society at large. It focuses on the non-British immigrant and the notion of multiculturalism, and is about cultural diversity, ethnic politics, and immigration policy. In this chapter I develop the argument that these two debates can neither be conceptualised together nor maintained as fully distinct. As a result of the public debates on both indigenous and immigration policies triggered by independent member of parliament Pauline Hanson in 1996, they converged and interacted in the later 1990s to a greater degree than at any time in the previous two centuries. Yet their conversation remains uneasy.' (Introduction)
-
Universal Truths Shouted From the Rooftops
1990
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Advertiser Magazine , 5 May 1990; (p. 14)
- Migrant literature & writers
- Multiculturalism
- Defining an Australian literature
- Migrant experiences
- Literature & writers
- Search for self identity
- Language
- Migrants
- Migrant assimilation
- Place & identity
- Australian culture
- Australian literature and writers
- Australian women writers
- Writer's inspiration
- Australian literature - Translations