Australian Authors - Any Suggestions?

[sphenequeen]

I am interested in reading Australian literature - particularly about the Australian experiance and Australian identity. Does anyone have any suggestions as to whom I should look into?

Thanks in advance!

SQ

 

[softly softly]

Hi sphenequeen! Can I ask are you interested in contemporary or 19th and 20th Century Aus Lit? Most of the recommendations I can give you are from established authors who are part of the 'cannon' if you like, and who tend to write either historical narratives or about the more recent past. I am not too familiar with more contemporary Aus Lit.

If you are interested in a grand 'nation-building' narrative I would suggest The Richard Mahoney Trilogy by Henry Handle Richardson - The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney, The Way Home, and Ultima Thule. These novels follow the rise and fall of Richard Mahoney who starts out as a humble shop keeper on the Victorian Goldfields. They give a excellent and very detailed portrait (I think) of life in the mid 19th C, of how fortunes were made and lost and of the impact this had upon the development of Australian society and culture. They also explore a common theme in Australian Lit - the longing to return home to the 'old country' the the restlessness this inspires in the characters of these novels who often find themselves trapped between two worlds. Martin Boyd is another author who explores similar themes.

George Johnston's autobiographical novel My Brother Jack is another most Australians will be familiar with. Set in Melbourne between the two World Wars, it deals with family life in the aftermath of what was one of the most catastrophic upheavals in Australian society. The narrative is constructed as a dichotomy between the archetypal Australian male (the eponymous Jack) who is brave, funny and resourceful, but uninterested in any intellectual or cultural pursuit - all traits that are valued by Australian society and his brother the narrator, who's intelligence and lack of physical strength isolate him from his family and peers.

Another personal favourite is Cloud Street by Tim Winton. It is the story how two families come to occupy one large, crumbling house in Perth in the 1950s. And I also highly recommend anything by Thea Astley whose novels deal with the often fraught relationship between white and indigenous Australia.

My final recommendation is Patrick White - our only Nobel Prize winner. His work does not appeal to everyone, as his style favours a sort of modernism rather than the natural realism of most other iconic Australian authors. I think he is definitely one of our greatest writers and his novels all explore Australian society and culture from a critical but deeply considered perspective. I am perhaps slightly biased in his favour as in another life I spent 3 years writing a Masters thesis on his work.

Sorry for the length of my reply sphenequeen. I hope some of this helps!

 

[Blackpaw]

Bryce Courtenay! fantastic author, the Australian Trilogy, beginning with the Potato Factory....

 

[movie zombie]

The Slap: A Novel by Christos Tsiolkas

i heard him interviewed on a radio program and he was the nicest most unassuming guy.

the book is modern day immigrant families and some of the "issues" that surface due to "the slap".

given that my husband's father's family were hungarian immigrants in 1951 to AU and that his step-father is a Cypriot-Greek immigrant to AU, i found the book most interesting and very well written.

MoZo

 

[sphenequeen]

You are all GEMS! Thank you for all of your recommendations - I can't wait to get started.

To Softly Softly ~ I want to focus mainly in what you refered to as the "grand nation building" narrative and the harsh realities of settlers of those times. I am also interested in writings dealing with contact between settlers and Aboriginals.

I am very interested in what you have to say about Patrick White! How interesting that you wrote your Masters thesis on his work. I find this fascinating.

Again, thank you all and if anyone else would like to contribute to this list, PLEASE DO!

 

[Trekkie]

You are all GEMS! Thank you for all of your recommendations - I can't wait to get started.

To Softly Softly ~ I want to focus mainly in what you refered to as the "grand nation building" narrative and the harsh realities of settlers of those times. I am also interested in writings dealing with contact between settlers and Aboriginals.

I am very interested in what you have to say about Patrick White! How interesting that you wrote your Masters thesis on his work. I find this fascinating.

Again, thank you all and if anyone else would like to contribute to this list, PLEASE DO!

You've received very good recommendations! I'd like to second the Bryce Courtenay suggestion. From what you've said I think you might enjoy his book Jessica. It had me in tears at some points - tears of sadness and laughter!

 

[MAC-W]

~ I want to focus mainly in what you refered to as the "grand nation building" narrative and the harsh realities of settlers

Phillip Knightly: Australia - A Biography of a Nation

 

[softly softly]

You are all GEMS! Thank you for all of your recommendations - I can't wait to get started.

To Softly Softly ~ I want to focus mainly in what you refered to as the "grand nation building" narrative and the harsh realities of settlers of those times. I am also interested in writings dealing with contact between settlers and Aboriginals.

I am very interested in what you have to say about Patrick White! How interesting that you wrote your Masters thesis on his work. I find this fascinating.

Again, thank you all and if anyone else would like to contribute to this list, PLEASE DO!

sphenequeen you may want to check out Capricorna and Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbet - both books deal with these issues. A word of warning though, at almost 1500 pages, Poor Fellow My Country is the longest Australian book ever written and was once renamed 'Poor Fellow My Reader' by the comedian Barry Humphries.

Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda may also interest you. As indeed may his later work True History of the Kelly Gang in which he imagines the life of Australia's most notorious 'bushranger' Ned Kelly.

If you are interested in Patrick White I would recommend The Tree of Man which deals with the relationship between white settlers and the 'land', and Voss which is set in early colonial Australia and which tells the story of a German explorer who sets out to the cross the continent.

Can I ask is your interest personal or for study reasons?

 

[sphenequeen]

Can I ask is your interest personal or for study reasons?

My interest is personal. I suddenly have this urge to know more about Australia as I feel it is a continent largely ignored by popular culture - this I am amazed by. I myself studied anthropology in college and am close to finishing my graduate degree in the same discipline. I am always fascinated by the way people live and how the experience of settlements were for people on both sides of the fence.

I hope this answers your question!

 

[sillyberry]

I'm not Australian, and I don't play one on TV, but one of my very favorite books ever is The Thorn Birds. Sure, it is soapy at times, and I suppose I have no idea if it is remotely accurate, but it gave me such a sense of the vastness of the Outback and how hard life was on a sheep station.

If this is a terrible suggestion for actual learning purposes, I apologize! But it's still a great read!

 

[sphenequeen]

I'm not Australian, and I don't play one on TV, but one of my very favorite books ever is The Thorn Birds. Sure, it is soapy at times, and I suppose I have no idea if it is remotely accurate, but it gave me such a sense of the vastness of the Outback and how hard life was on a sheep station.

If this is a terrible suggestion for actual learning purposes, I apologize! But it's still a great read!

sillyberry ~ thank you for your suggestion!

 

[movie zombie]

have a look at the film RABBIT FENCE.... understand it was originally a book....for reference re the interface of settlers with aboriginals.


MoZo

 

[softly softly]

have a look at the film RABBIT FENCE.... understand it was originally a book....for reference re the interface of settlers with aboriginals.


MoZo

You mean 'Rabbit-Proof Fence'? The book was written by Doris Pilkington Garimara. Another that may interest you is The Chant of Jimme Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally.

 

[movie zombie]

ah, yes, that's the one! i knew i was close but still off on the title. thanks for the correction. true story and worth effort to find.

MoZo

 

[Lislis89]

I am an aussie here.... it might sound a little odd but I think you may benefit from just simple Australian poems or shorts stories also.

Many of those books are fantastic for facts and history etc, but classics like the man from snowy river, waltzing matilda, by Banjo Patterson give an insight into the Australian feelings, emotions and lifestyles at those times. Its funny here in oz we actually dont fully concentrate on our historic information as opposed to the way we have grown from it.

Another film that is not particularly historical but still illustrates Australian rural/country life and the racial struggles that everyone faces here is "Australian Rules' its about an AFL club in rural australia (Australian Rules Football) and issues faced by boys both anglo and aboriginal that belong to it. It is also based on a book, but the author eludes me at this time.

Enjoy

Oh and if your really priming for oz facts etc. check out an artist known as Pro Hart, many of his works illustrate our outback and rural heritages.