AustLit

A Secret Australia was begun as an essay on the poetry of Ken Taylor, in particular his work from 1966-69 as collected in At Valentines. It was meant to examine this poetry in the contexts of Australian writing, thinking and visions of the place. But it became apparent early that it was bigger than that and that Taylor's concerns led me beyond the action poems to a consideration of what the problems of being in and of Australia are and why. It became obvious that the malaise of Australian culture was a very long way from being simple provincialism. - Author's Abstract.