Women and the bush : forces of desire in the Australian cultural tradition / Kay Schaffer
- Bib ID:
- 1947882
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Schaffer, Kay, 1945-
- Online Version:
- Table of contents
Broken link? let us search Trove , the Wayback Machine , or Google for you.
- Related Online Resources:
- Publisher description
Broken link? let us search Trove , the Wayback Machine , or Google for you.
- Description:
-
- Cambridge, England ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1988
- xv, 229 pages ; 22 cm.
- ISBN:
-
- 052136244X
- 0521368162
- Summary:
-
Images of Australian identity, and of Australian nationhood, are social and cultural constructs. There are several dominant themes and elements, one of the most pervasive being the Australian bushman confronting a vast and barren landscape. This is a specifically Australian conception of the battle between Man and Nature. Throughout the myths, traditions and literary creations of Australia are underlying assumptions about gender and sexual difference: assumptions about masculinity and femininity within the nationalist tradition, which affect perceptions today. In this new critique, Kay Schaffer applies the insights of feminist scholarship and of literary analysis to examine the national character. She looks at how the concept of 'the typical Australian', and the woman who stands in relation to him, has evolved across a range of cultural forms, including historical and literary texts, film and the media. She concentrates in particular on the writings of Henry Lawson and of Barbara Bayton. The circulation of ideas about these writers, their contribution to a national mythology, and the different ways their importance has been represented to modern readers, is explored and discussed. This thoughtful and provocative study will interest readers concerned with Australian literary and cultural history, as well as the broader questions of Australia's changing self-image. It will be of particular value to those interested in feminist approaches to culture and society.
- Full contents:
-
- Machine derived contents note: Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. Culture, language and the self
- 2. In search of a national identity
- 3. The bush and women
- 4. Landscape representation and national identity
- 5. Henry Lawson: the people's poet
- 6. Barbara Bayton: a dissident voice from the bush
- 7. Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
- Notes:
-
- Includes index.
- Bibliography: pages 209-221.
- Subject:
-
- Australian literature -- History and criticism
- Women in literature
- Women and literature -- Australia
- National characteristics, Australian
- Frontier and pioneer life in literature
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Australia
- Sex role in literature
- Sex role -- Australia
- Arts, Australian
- Race relations - Racial discrimination
- Race relations - Representation - History
- Race relations - Representation - Literature
- Australia -- Civilization
- Australia Sex roles Cultural aspects, 1788-1988
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
You may copy under some circumstances, for example you may copy a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 1988
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.
Feedback
Similar items
- The courageous ones / by Eileen Swift
- Cong lin, xing bie yu Aodaliya li shi de chong gou = The bush, gender and the construction of Australian history / zuo zhe Kaisalin Xiefei ; yi zhe Hou Shuyun ... [et al.] ; jiao ding Yu Minmei
- Australian station stories / by Ernest Reid
- Women and the bush : Australian national identity and representations of the feminine / by Kay Schaffer
- Along the faultlines : sex, race and nation in Australian women's writing, 1880s - 1930s / Susan Sheridan