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'It was Arthur Phillip (ironically the namesake of an early colonist) who, in the 1950 summer issue of the Australian magazine Meanjin, coined the phrase “cultural cringe”. He took as his exemplum a radio programme in which the work of a foreign composer was played along with an Australian composition; listeners were supposed to try to guess which was which, and were supposed to fail, demonstrating, in Phillip’s sardonic words, that “the local lad proves to be no worse than the foreigner. This unexpected discovery is intended to inspire a nice show of patriotic satisfaction . . . .” Phillip’s essay has been, deservedly, influential; it picks out an attitude which, in its different forms, once underwrote many of the schools of Australian poetry in the mid- to…' (Introduction)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Cultural Cringe
1997
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 24 October 1997;'Sir, – What does Robert Potts, reviewing Peter Porter’s anthology The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse (October 3), mean by saying that A. D. Hope’s “Augustan line . . . owes more to English education than Australian residence”? Doesn’t he know that Hope went to New South Wales schools and the University of Sydney before spending at Oxford three of his so far ninety years? Does he imagine that Augustan models are unknown to Australian residents?' (Introduction)
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Cultural Cringe
1997
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 24 October 1997;'Sir, – What does Robert Potts, reviewing Peter Porter’s anthology The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse (October 3), mean by saying that A. D. Hope’s “Augustan line . . . owes more to English education than Australian residence”? Doesn’t he know that Hope went to New South Wales schools and the University of Sydney before spending at Oxford three of his so far ninety years? Does he imagine that Augustan models are unknown to Australian residents?' (Introduction)
- The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse 1996 anthology poetry extract
