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Contents
* Contents derived from the
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Oxford University Press
, 1991 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry : Introduction, single work criticism (p. xi-xvii)
- The Bright Locked World, single work criticism biography (p. 1-13)
- Each Unshining Hour, single work criticism biography (p. 14-28)
- Summer Hermit, single work criticism biography (p. 29-42)
- At Home, Away, single work criticism biography (p. 43-59)
- Carnival Winter, single work criticism biography (p. 60-91)
- The Stretch Marks on History, single work criticism biography (p. 92-116)
- Fuel for the Dark, single work criticism biography (p. 117-148)
- The Easiest Room in Hell, single work criticism biography (p. 149-176)
- The Lying Art, single work criticism biography (p. 177-196)
- Beyond Apocalypse, single work criticism biography (p. 197-236)
- Possible Worlds, single work criticism biography (p. 237-259)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
-
Peter Porter Gives New Meaning to `Expatriate' Label
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 7 no. 2 1993; (p. 174-178)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
The Province of Peter Porter
1993
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meridian , May vol. 12 no. 1 1993; (p. 84-90) -
Untitled
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Fremantle Arts Review , October/November vol. 7 no. 10 & 11 1992; (p. 12-13)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
Untitled
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , Summer vol. 37 no. 4 1992; (p. 107-109)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography
-
Untitled
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Fremantle Arts Review , October/November vol. 7 no. 10 & 11 1992; (p. 12-13)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
Untitled
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 15 no. 4 1992; (p. 362-364)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography ; God's Fool : The Life and Poetry of Francis Webb 1991 selected work criticism biography -
Forecasts
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , July vol. 71 no. 1017 1991; (p. 24)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
Judgements from a Poet's Pen
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 September 1991; (p. wkd 7)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
Peter Porter in Perspective
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 September 1991; (p. rev 5)
— Review of Spirit in Exile : Peter Porter and His Poetry 1991 selected work criticism biography -
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
-
The Advancing Wave : Australian Literary Biography Since 1980
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reconnoitres : Essays in Australian Literature in Honour of G. A. Wilkes 1992; (p. 191-203) Studies in Australian Literary History 1997; (p. 215-229) -
The Province of Peter Porter
1993
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meridian , May vol. 12 no. 1 1993; (p. 84-90) -
The Power to Spring Surprises
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 31 August 1991; (p. 40) The Age , 13 September 1991; (p. 10)
Awards
- 1992 winner Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Historical and Critical Studies Award
Last amended 5 Feb 2002 16:06:50
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