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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The Burning Library explores the lives and work of Australian novelists, many of whom have unjustly disappeared from the public imagination. Alarmed by the increasingly marginal status of Australian literature in the academy, Geordie Williamson has set out to reintroduce us to those key writers whose works we may have forgotten or missed altogether. His focus is on fiction that gives pleasure, and he is ardent in defence of books that for whatever reason sit uneasily in the present moment.
'Among the writers Williamson discusses are Dymphna Cusack, Elizabeth Harrower, David Ireland, Olga Masters and Gerald Murnane. The Burning Library is a dynamic act of reclamation inspired by Miles Franklin's claim that a nation that fails to acknowledge its literary treasures is "neither preserved nor developed, but only defaced".' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
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Author's note: This book is inspired by anger and hope. The anger comes from watching as Australian literature is dismantled by the people charged with preserving the best of our writing for future generations. And the hope? It grows out of a sense that neither academics nor publishers will rescue our collective literary achievement - it falls to ordinary readers to do what they cannot.
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Dedication: For Frances
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Epigraph: 'As a teacher he is involved in a task which would appear impossible by the standards of the scientific laboratory: to teach what, strictly speaking, cannot be taught, but only 'caught', like a passion, a vice or virtue. This 'impossibility' is the inspiration of his work.' -Erich Heller
'I shouldn't worry about 'international standards'. Every country can produce its own great literature and needs no comparisons.' -Christina Stead, Letter to Ron Geering
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
Works about this Work
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Book Review : The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Queensland Review , December vol. 20 no. 2 2013; (p. 236-237)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Anger and Hope
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 348 2013; (p. 14-15)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Local Writers Fire Passions
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 February 2013; (p. 20)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Auto Da Fe
2013-
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , January 2013;
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
[Review] The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 6 no. 1 2013;
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism
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Passions Provoked by the Book
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27 - 28 October 2012; (p. 22-23)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism ; By the Book : A Reader's Guide to Life 2012 single work prose -
Critical Juncture
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 17 November 2012; (p. 26-27) The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 November 2012; (p. 30-31)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Auto Da Fe
2013-
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , January 2013;
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Local Writers Fire Passions
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 February 2013; (p. 20)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Anger and Hope
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 348 2013; (p. 14-15)
— Review of The Burning Library : Our Great Novelists Lost and Found 2012 selected work criticism -
Celebrating Great but Outmoded Writers Who Faded From View
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 19 October 2012; (p. 5) -
Museum Mentality
Who Killed Australian Literature?
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 October 2012; (p. 8-9) -
What I’m Reading
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2013;
Last amended 16 Jul 2013 15:34:23
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