AustLit

Examines the political consequences inherent in the genre of the 'well-made novel'. Argues that 'a reading of The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith may tell us, not only what Keneally's novel explicitly states, that there is a limit to understanding white Australians can have of aboriginal culture, but also why Keneally was forced by the limits of the novel form itself to draw this lesson in politically conservative terms' (291).