Staff Site Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta ACL2C.
Unit 6:
Reconsiderations
(Pp. 63—73)
Early Twentieth Century
l January 1, 1901, the colonies of NSW,
Vic., QLD, WA, SA, and TAS federated
into the Commonwealth of Australia with a
Westminster-style system of parliamentary
democracy.
l This name shows that although there has
always been a strongly-expressed attitude
of independence from Britain, Aust. has
been reluctant to move towards the fully
independent status of a republic.
l Aust’s loyalties to Britain were confirmed
in Aust’s involvement to defend it in W.W. I
(July 28, 1914—Nov. 11, 1918, mainly
conducted in Europe & the Middle East
between the Triple Entente—GB, France,
and Russia aided by the US, Belgium, and
Japan—and the Central Powers—
Germany & Austria-Hungary, aided by
Turkey & Bulgaria.)
l This war experiences forged a new sense of national
identity that was centred on the image of the digger,
i.e. the tradition of endurance during the gold rushes &
the bravery and could be relied upon during the war.
C. E. W. Bean, Aust.n journalist & historian, is
responsible for this national myth-making.
l In Aust. the feeling of patriotism at the same time split
the nation and hid the divisions, as it turned into the
extreme nationalism of xenophobia. Although this was
not represented in literature, the search for a basis of
national unity became a major force behind the lit. of
the years after the war. The writers were engaged on
the process of reassessment of Austn. ideals as a
country and as a nation.
Some Writers
l Katherine Susannah Prichard (1883—1969):
back to the bush settlements in search of the
circumstances that produced community
l M. Barnard Eldershaw (pseudonym adopted by
Flora Eldershaw & Marjorie Barnard for their
work collaboration: examining how the ways
Aust. promised brought frustration due to the
limited sensibilities brought from European
values & ways of seeing
l Frank Wilmot: expressing the reactions of
the war-weary & seeking images of
universal experience in city life
l The “Vision” (1923—24, a periodical
published in Sydney):
- group of Norman Lindsay, Jack Lindsay,
& Kenneth Slessor
- trying to find the universal by entirely
abandoning the present for eternal images
of joy & delight
Henry Handel Richardson
(1870—1946)
l Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson
l reassessing Austn. & British ideals in her
trilogy of novels which were then
published in a single volume as The
Fortunes of Richard Mahony (London,
1930), actually follows the story of her
father’s life.
The Crisis of Belief
l Austn. writer like Richardson responds to the
crisis of European values and politics: the mass
killing in W.W. I, fascism, liberal democracy &
scientific progress, the influential idea brought
by Nietzsche.
l Aust. was significantly affected by the war as
many were killed but it was not involved in the
causes of the war, had different hopes &
disillusions which brought about the factors in
the conservatism of Austn. writing between the
wars, and also to restore an old order rather
than to build a new one.
l The problems of society in Aust. was
associated with the greed of unionists or
business, the prostitution & corruption of
politicians or the heedlessness of British
commanders rather than a general
collapse of civilization. Therefore, the
writers, used traditional forms of verse to
establish worlds of natural beauty to
correct human brutality, or traditional
structures of fiction to discover ways of
reconciling the individual with society.
John Shaw Neilson (1872--1942)
l Born in Penola, S.A.
l He had been nurtured through the Bulletin by
Stephens
l Most traditional & modest in aspirations
l Showing neither obvious nationalism nor easy
romanticism in his works compared to his Bulletin
contemporaries
l His Australian element coming from the quality of
the light, a symbol of love & joy
l Heart of Spring (1919), Ballad and Lyrical Poems
(1923), & New Poems (1927)
Frank Wilmot (1881—1942)
l Born in Collingwood, Melbourne
l Adopted Furnley Maurice as his pseudonym for his
works when he established a magazine to attack
Stephens, who had declined to publish his work
l A socialist & pacifist publishing a collection entitled To
God: from the Weary Nations & The Gully and other
Poems
l According to him, “the problems of individual
happiness can be solved by adjustments to the social
order to ensure that the products its vitality are shared
by all”, and that “the problem of establishing political
and cultural independence rests first on discovering an
appropriate language”.
Unit 7:
Renaissance and
Revolution
Pp.74—
Pp.74
—91
Technical Terms:
u
u
u
u
Philist ine: uncult ured person; person w hose
int erest s are m at er ial & com m onplace ( Hor nby,
1980: 627)
Ut ilit arianism : polit ical & m oral t heory t hat t he
best role of life is t o aim at t he great est
happiness of t he great est num ber / act ions being
considered right or wrong according as t hey help
or hinder t he achievem ent of t his aim ( Hornby,
1980: 948)
Bolshevism : t he principles or pract ices of
ult raradical socialist s or polit ical ult raradicals
generally ( Delbridge,1991: 199)
Vit alism : t he doct rine t hat phenom ena are only
part ly cont rolled by m echanical forces and t hat
t hey are in som e m easure selfself - det er
erm
m ining ( opp.
t o m echanism ) ( Delbridge,1991: 1951)
After the First World War
u
u
u
u
u
The end of W.W. I brought about t he nat ion in
division:
separat e & conflict ing st ream s in t he radical
nat ionalist t radit ion by em phasizing m at eship and
bush independence
conflict bet ween Cat holics & Prot est ant s in t he
labour m ovem ent
conflict bet ween ret urned servicem en & bet ween
t he ser vicem en and ot hers
conflict ing st ream s in t he conservat ives bet ween
t hose loyalt y t o t he Em pire & fear of bolshevism
u
u
u
This t hreat of social disint egrat ion & t he
aggressive m at er ialism of capit al result ed in
recreat ing t he European renaissance in Aust . by
renewing t he im age of a world hospit able t o t he
expression of hum an passion & em ot ion but
producing paradoxical effect of em phasing t he
unique nat ure of Aust . while denying it s realit y.
This paradox m arks t he wor k of t hose associat ed
wit h Vision like Norm an and Jack Lindsay:
“ seeking t o produce a renaissance in Aust by
freeing it s cult ure sim ult aneously from t he
narrowing t hrall of nat ionalism , from t he
ut ilit arian & m at er ialist values of t heir
surrounding societ y, & from European
decadence”
- This effort s provided a possibilit y of
denying realism & nat uralism
- Their works were flawed at it s source
by t he belief t hat art ist s could free
t hem selves com plet ely from societ y
& creat e a selfself - sust aining world of
t heir own
- I nst ead of offering social crit icism ,
t heir writ ings were m erely a form of
ent ert ainm ent & escape
Vision (1923
(1923—
—24)
u
u
u
A periodical edit ed by Jack Lindsay,
Kennet h Slessor & Frank C. Johnson
Published in Sydney & last ing only four
issues
Looking forward t o a ‘Renaissance’ of
‘creat ive passion’ beginning in Aust .,
opposing bot h European m odernism & t he
nat ionalist st rain in Aust ’n writ ing by
t aking up a rom ant ic & vit alist philosophy
Hugh McCrae (1876
(1876—
—1958)
u
u
u
u
Born Melbourne
an out st anding poet in his era
Maj or works: Sat yrs and Sunlight :
Silvarum Libri ( poet ry, 1909) , addressing
a life of t he senses in a w orld of passion &
beaut y, soaring away from t he everyday
life; Creat ive Effort : an Essay in
Affirm at ion ( essay, 1920) , view ing t he
art ist as a visionary
Writ ing Aust n nat ure t hrough im ages
drawned from European m yt h & faery
Norman Lindsay (1879—
(1879—1969)
u
u
u
u
Born in Creswick on t he Vict orian goldgold - fields providing
t he set t ing for his novels
His wor ks deal m ainly wit h t he m ale search for
pleasure, part icularly food, drink, & wom en, & is in
effect m er ely t he reverse im age of t he societ y he
rej ect s
Maj or works The Magic Pudding ( 1918) , showing t he
larrikin spirit in which t he rules of t he adult wor ld are
rej ect ed by t he children who im pose t heirs, inst ead,
Redheap ( 1930) , t alking about t he im m ort alit y,
Sat urdee ( 1933) , on t he sources of t he larrikin spirit in
his nat ive t own & it s surrounding bush, A Curat e in
Bohem ia ( 1913) his first novel, Creat ive Effor t , his
philosophy he developed in his essay, & Room s and
Houses ( 1968) , his aut obiographical novel
He view s life as am bivalence: t o learn t o underst and
life is t o free oneself from life & t rue freedom is only
enj oyed by t hose who have t o accept t heir
responsibilit y for t hem selves
Jack Lindsay (1900—
(1900—)
u
u
u
Born in Melbourne & brought up in
Brisbane, son of Norm an who j oined him
in est ablishing Vision
Producing aut obiographical t rilogy,
part icularly valuable as sociosocio - cult ural
hist ory of Aust . in t he 1 st t hree decades of
t he 20 t h c: Life Rarely Tells ( 1958) , The
Roaring Twent ies ( 1960) , & Fanfrolico and
Aft er ( 1976)
Recreat ing his Aust ralia from European
perspect ive
Kenneth Slessor (1901—
(1901—71)
u
Born at Orange, NSW
Robert David FitzGerald (1902-(1902--1987)
1987)
u
Born in Sydney
Katharine Susannah Prichard
(1883-(1883
--1969)
1969)
u
Born in Levuka, Fij i
Unit 8:
War: the Changing
Response
Pp.92—
Pp.92
—102
u
u
u
The novels about W.W. I appeared 10 years
aft er t he war was over when t he peace
seem ed lost t hrough divisions in Aust . &
t hrough growing disput es abroad. Therefore,
t he writ ers not only looked back at t he war
but also narrat ed t heir disenchant m ent during
t he post - war.
Over t he next 50 years Aust n writ ers’ st art ing
t o drop t heir im agining world reflect t he
changes occurring in t he societ y & Aust n
perceived relat ionship wit h Brit ain.
The problem present ed by t he war was
responded t hrough poet ry by t hose who
m ost ly got im m ediat ely involved as soldiers
and t hrough novels by t he rest of t he societ y.
u
u
The works t o response t he war
experiences appeared in 2 form s: a)
t he English writ ers using fict ionalized
m em oirs and b) Aust n writ ers using
docum ent ary novels.
Such novels t urn out t o be
dist inct ively Aust n qualit y as t hrough
t his form t he writ ers discover t he
pat t ern or m eaning of t he event s not
by experience but by observat ion of
t he ordinary infant rym an who is
isolat ed from t he civilians and even
from his officers.
Frederic Manning (1882—
(1882—1935)
u
u
u
Born in Sydney, had a lim it ed educat ion,
but lived in England from t he age of 15 &
served as an ordinary soldier in t he Brit ish
arm y.
Maj or work The Middle Part s of Fort unat e
( 1929) , t old from t he point of view of a
Privat e Bourne who is based on his lifelife experiences.
For Manning, war is a night m are wit hin
which he can learn what he is & what life
is.
Leonard Mann (1895—
(1895—1981)
u
u
u
Born in Melbourne, worked as a clerk in t he
public service before serving in France in t he
First World War
Maj or work Flesh in Arm our ( 1932) , set in
t he bat t le fields in France, overem phasizing
t he rem arkable qualit ies of t he Aust n
‘digger’: t he careless appearance, cynical
about aut horit y, & superbly disciplined in
act ion; t he essent ially dem ocrat ic arm y as
shown by t he easy relat ions bet w een t he
m en and t he officers.
Like Manning’s, Mann describes t he lives of
m en set apart from t heir com m anders, t heir
pre-- war past & t heir civilian fellowpre
fellow count rym en
Frank Dalby Davison
(1893—
(1893
—1970)
u
u
Born in Glenferrie, Vict oria, enlist ed in
W.W. I and served wit h t he Brit ish cavalry
in France & ret urned t o Aust . in 1919.
Maj or work, The Wells of Beersheba
( 1933) , having com m em orat ed t he
exploit s of t he m en and horses of t he
Aust ralian Light Horse in Palest ine in t he
world’s last great cavalry charge in 1914—
1914 —
18
Martin Boyd (1893—
(1893—1972)
u
u
u
Born in Swit zerland, but spent his early
years in Vict oria
I n W.W. I , he j oined an English regim ent &
served in France in 1915—
1915 —18, first in t he
infant ry and t hen in t he flying corps. The
experience had a perm anent effect on his
at t it udes t o war & Brit ain’s governing
classes, det erm ining his ant iiaut horit arianism & com m it m ent t o a
‘qualified pacifism ’.
For Boyd, war is an int egral part of a
societ y t hat has lost it s grasp of hum an
values.
u
Maj or work Lucinda Brayford ( 1946) ,
novel of social hist ory t racing t he hist ory
of fam ilies t orn bet ween England & Aust .
but t he 1st World War is t he event t hat
reveals t he precarious qualit y of
civilizat ion in Aust & Brit ain. The bat t les in
France and t he parallel m obilizat ion in
England represent t he ult im at e denial of
t he hum an values t hat a societ y searches
t o be realized. When Blackbirds Sing
( 1962) , deals direct ly wit h W.W. I and
part icularly his experience in France.
Contemporary Novels of the First
World War
u
1915: a Novel ( 1979) and Fly Away
Pet er ( 1981) are t wo recent novels
dealing wit h W.W.I . They int erpret
t he war by reconst ruct ing t he
im m ediacy of experience rat her t han
by put t ing t hem int o a part icular
hist orical cont ext .
Roger McDonald (1941—
(1941—)
u
u
Born & educat ed in Sydney
I n 1915 while living in Canberra, he
worked on 1915
1915,, about t he Gallipoli
experience published in 1979,
winning t he Age Book of t he Year
Award & t he SA governm ent ’s
Biennial Lit erat ure Award.
David Malouf (1934—
(1934—)
u
u
u
Born in Brisbane of Lebanese and English
parent s, living in Europe in 1959—
1959 —68
Maj or work Fly Away Pet er,
er , set in
Queensland before t he First World War
cent ralizing on t he crucial event s of t he
life of a dedicat ed birdbird - wat cher nam ed Jim
Saddler who becom es drawn int o t he war.
Malouf & MacDonald are concerned t o
discover t he effect of t he First World War
on Aust ns’ underst anding of t hem selves.
Reconsiderations
(Pp. 63—73)
Early Twentieth Century
l January 1, 1901, the colonies of NSW,
Vic., QLD, WA, SA, and TAS federated
into the Commonwealth of Australia with a
Westminster-style system of parliamentary
democracy.
l This name shows that although there has
always been a strongly-expressed attitude
of independence from Britain, Aust. has
been reluctant to move towards the fully
independent status of a republic.
l Aust’s loyalties to Britain were confirmed
in Aust’s involvement to defend it in W.W. I
(July 28, 1914—Nov. 11, 1918, mainly
conducted in Europe & the Middle East
between the Triple Entente—GB, France,
and Russia aided by the US, Belgium, and
Japan—and the Central Powers—
Germany & Austria-Hungary, aided by
Turkey & Bulgaria.)
l This war experiences forged a new sense of national
identity that was centred on the image of the digger,
i.e. the tradition of endurance during the gold rushes &
the bravery and could be relied upon during the war.
C. E. W. Bean, Aust.n journalist & historian, is
responsible for this national myth-making.
l In Aust. the feeling of patriotism at the same time split
the nation and hid the divisions, as it turned into the
extreme nationalism of xenophobia. Although this was
not represented in literature, the search for a basis of
national unity became a major force behind the lit. of
the years after the war. The writers were engaged on
the process of reassessment of Austn. ideals as a
country and as a nation.
Some Writers
l Katherine Susannah Prichard (1883—1969):
back to the bush settlements in search of the
circumstances that produced community
l M. Barnard Eldershaw (pseudonym adopted by
Flora Eldershaw & Marjorie Barnard for their
work collaboration: examining how the ways
Aust. promised brought frustration due to the
limited sensibilities brought from European
values & ways of seeing
l Frank Wilmot: expressing the reactions of
the war-weary & seeking images of
universal experience in city life
l The “Vision” (1923—24, a periodical
published in Sydney):
- group of Norman Lindsay, Jack Lindsay,
& Kenneth Slessor
- trying to find the universal by entirely
abandoning the present for eternal images
of joy & delight
Henry Handel Richardson
(1870—1946)
l Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson
l reassessing Austn. & British ideals in her
trilogy of novels which were then
published in a single volume as The
Fortunes of Richard Mahony (London,
1930), actually follows the story of her
father’s life.
The Crisis of Belief
l Austn. writer like Richardson responds to the
crisis of European values and politics: the mass
killing in W.W. I, fascism, liberal democracy &
scientific progress, the influential idea brought
by Nietzsche.
l Aust. was significantly affected by the war as
many were killed but it was not involved in the
causes of the war, had different hopes &
disillusions which brought about the factors in
the conservatism of Austn. writing between the
wars, and also to restore an old order rather
than to build a new one.
l The problems of society in Aust. was
associated with the greed of unionists or
business, the prostitution & corruption of
politicians or the heedlessness of British
commanders rather than a general
collapse of civilization. Therefore, the
writers, used traditional forms of verse to
establish worlds of natural beauty to
correct human brutality, or traditional
structures of fiction to discover ways of
reconciling the individual with society.
John Shaw Neilson (1872--1942)
l Born in Penola, S.A.
l He had been nurtured through the Bulletin by
Stephens
l Most traditional & modest in aspirations
l Showing neither obvious nationalism nor easy
romanticism in his works compared to his Bulletin
contemporaries
l His Australian element coming from the quality of
the light, a symbol of love & joy
l Heart of Spring (1919), Ballad and Lyrical Poems
(1923), & New Poems (1927)
Frank Wilmot (1881—1942)
l Born in Collingwood, Melbourne
l Adopted Furnley Maurice as his pseudonym for his
works when he established a magazine to attack
Stephens, who had declined to publish his work
l A socialist & pacifist publishing a collection entitled To
God: from the Weary Nations & The Gully and other
Poems
l According to him, “the problems of individual
happiness can be solved by adjustments to the social
order to ensure that the products its vitality are shared
by all”, and that “the problem of establishing political
and cultural independence rests first on discovering an
appropriate language”.
Unit 7:
Renaissance and
Revolution
Pp.74—
Pp.74
—91
Technical Terms:
u
u
u
u
Philist ine: uncult ured person; person w hose
int erest s are m at er ial & com m onplace ( Hor nby,
1980: 627)
Ut ilit arianism : polit ical & m oral t heory t hat t he
best role of life is t o aim at t he great est
happiness of t he great est num ber / act ions being
considered right or wrong according as t hey help
or hinder t he achievem ent of t his aim ( Hornby,
1980: 948)
Bolshevism : t he principles or pract ices of
ult raradical socialist s or polit ical ult raradicals
generally ( Delbridge,1991: 199)
Vit alism : t he doct rine t hat phenom ena are only
part ly cont rolled by m echanical forces and t hat
t hey are in som e m easure selfself - det er
erm
m ining ( opp.
t o m echanism ) ( Delbridge,1991: 1951)
After the First World War
u
u
u
u
u
The end of W.W. I brought about t he nat ion in
division:
separat e & conflict ing st ream s in t he radical
nat ionalist t radit ion by em phasizing m at eship and
bush independence
conflict bet ween Cat holics & Prot est ant s in t he
labour m ovem ent
conflict bet ween ret urned servicem en & bet ween
t he ser vicem en and ot hers
conflict ing st ream s in t he conservat ives bet ween
t hose loyalt y t o t he Em pire & fear of bolshevism
u
u
u
This t hreat of social disint egrat ion & t he
aggressive m at er ialism of capit al result ed in
recreat ing t he European renaissance in Aust . by
renewing t he im age of a world hospit able t o t he
expression of hum an passion & em ot ion but
producing paradoxical effect of em phasing t he
unique nat ure of Aust . while denying it s realit y.
This paradox m arks t he wor k of t hose associat ed
wit h Vision like Norm an and Jack Lindsay:
“ seeking t o produce a renaissance in Aust by
freeing it s cult ure sim ult aneously from t he
narrowing t hrall of nat ionalism , from t he
ut ilit arian & m at er ialist values of t heir
surrounding societ y, & from European
decadence”
- This effort s provided a possibilit y of
denying realism & nat uralism
- Their works were flawed at it s source
by t he belief t hat art ist s could free
t hem selves com plet ely from societ y
& creat e a selfself - sust aining world of
t heir own
- I nst ead of offering social crit icism ,
t heir writ ings were m erely a form of
ent ert ainm ent & escape
Vision (1923
(1923—
—24)
u
u
u
A periodical edit ed by Jack Lindsay,
Kennet h Slessor & Frank C. Johnson
Published in Sydney & last ing only four
issues
Looking forward t o a ‘Renaissance’ of
‘creat ive passion’ beginning in Aust .,
opposing bot h European m odernism & t he
nat ionalist st rain in Aust ’n writ ing by
t aking up a rom ant ic & vit alist philosophy
Hugh McCrae (1876
(1876—
—1958)
u
u
u
u
Born Melbourne
an out st anding poet in his era
Maj or works: Sat yrs and Sunlight :
Silvarum Libri ( poet ry, 1909) , addressing
a life of t he senses in a w orld of passion &
beaut y, soaring away from t he everyday
life; Creat ive Effort : an Essay in
Affirm at ion ( essay, 1920) , view ing t he
art ist as a visionary
Writ ing Aust n nat ure t hrough im ages
drawned from European m yt h & faery
Norman Lindsay (1879—
(1879—1969)
u
u
u
u
Born in Creswick on t he Vict orian goldgold - fields providing
t he set t ing for his novels
His wor ks deal m ainly wit h t he m ale search for
pleasure, part icularly food, drink, & wom en, & is in
effect m er ely t he reverse im age of t he societ y he
rej ect s
Maj or works The Magic Pudding ( 1918) , showing t he
larrikin spirit in which t he rules of t he adult wor ld are
rej ect ed by t he children who im pose t heirs, inst ead,
Redheap ( 1930) , t alking about t he im m ort alit y,
Sat urdee ( 1933) , on t he sources of t he larrikin spirit in
his nat ive t own & it s surrounding bush, A Curat e in
Bohem ia ( 1913) his first novel, Creat ive Effor t , his
philosophy he developed in his essay, & Room s and
Houses ( 1968) , his aut obiographical novel
He view s life as am bivalence: t o learn t o underst and
life is t o free oneself from life & t rue freedom is only
enj oyed by t hose who have t o accept t heir
responsibilit y for t hem selves
Jack Lindsay (1900—
(1900—)
u
u
u
Born in Melbourne & brought up in
Brisbane, son of Norm an who j oined him
in est ablishing Vision
Producing aut obiographical t rilogy,
part icularly valuable as sociosocio - cult ural
hist ory of Aust . in t he 1 st t hree decades of
t he 20 t h c: Life Rarely Tells ( 1958) , The
Roaring Twent ies ( 1960) , & Fanfrolico and
Aft er ( 1976)
Recreat ing his Aust ralia from European
perspect ive
Kenneth Slessor (1901—
(1901—71)
u
Born at Orange, NSW
Robert David FitzGerald (1902-(1902--1987)
1987)
u
Born in Sydney
Katharine Susannah Prichard
(1883-(1883
--1969)
1969)
u
Born in Levuka, Fij i
Unit 8:
War: the Changing
Response
Pp.92—
Pp.92
—102
u
u
u
The novels about W.W. I appeared 10 years
aft er t he war was over when t he peace
seem ed lost t hrough divisions in Aust . &
t hrough growing disput es abroad. Therefore,
t he writ ers not only looked back at t he war
but also narrat ed t heir disenchant m ent during
t he post - war.
Over t he next 50 years Aust n writ ers’ st art ing
t o drop t heir im agining world reflect t he
changes occurring in t he societ y & Aust n
perceived relat ionship wit h Brit ain.
The problem present ed by t he war was
responded t hrough poet ry by t hose who
m ost ly got im m ediat ely involved as soldiers
and t hrough novels by t he rest of t he societ y.
u
u
The works t o response t he war
experiences appeared in 2 form s: a)
t he English writ ers using fict ionalized
m em oirs and b) Aust n writ ers using
docum ent ary novels.
Such novels t urn out t o be
dist inct ively Aust n qualit y as t hrough
t his form t he writ ers discover t he
pat t ern or m eaning of t he event s not
by experience but by observat ion of
t he ordinary infant rym an who is
isolat ed from t he civilians and even
from his officers.
Frederic Manning (1882—
(1882—1935)
u
u
u
Born in Sydney, had a lim it ed educat ion,
but lived in England from t he age of 15 &
served as an ordinary soldier in t he Brit ish
arm y.
Maj or work The Middle Part s of Fort unat e
( 1929) , t old from t he point of view of a
Privat e Bourne who is based on his lifelife experiences.
For Manning, war is a night m are wit hin
which he can learn what he is & what life
is.
Leonard Mann (1895—
(1895—1981)
u
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Born in Melbourne, worked as a clerk in t he
public service before serving in France in t he
First World War
Maj or work Flesh in Arm our ( 1932) , set in
t he bat t le fields in France, overem phasizing
t he rem arkable qualit ies of t he Aust n
‘digger’: t he careless appearance, cynical
about aut horit y, & superbly disciplined in
act ion; t he essent ially dem ocrat ic arm y as
shown by t he easy relat ions bet w een t he
m en and t he officers.
Like Manning’s, Mann describes t he lives of
m en set apart from t heir com m anders, t heir
pre-- war past & t heir civilian fellowpre
fellow count rym en
Frank Dalby Davison
(1893—
(1893
—1970)
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Born in Glenferrie, Vict oria, enlist ed in
W.W. I and served wit h t he Brit ish cavalry
in France & ret urned t o Aust . in 1919.
Maj or work, The Wells of Beersheba
( 1933) , having com m em orat ed t he
exploit s of t he m en and horses of t he
Aust ralian Light Horse in Palest ine in t he
world’s last great cavalry charge in 1914—
1914 —
18
Martin Boyd (1893—
(1893—1972)
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Born in Swit zerland, but spent his early
years in Vict oria
I n W.W. I , he j oined an English regim ent &
served in France in 1915—
1915 —18, first in t he
infant ry and t hen in t he flying corps. The
experience had a perm anent effect on his
at t it udes t o war & Brit ain’s governing
classes, det erm ining his ant iiaut horit arianism & com m it m ent t o a
‘qualified pacifism ’.
For Boyd, war is an int egral part of a
societ y t hat has lost it s grasp of hum an
values.
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Maj or work Lucinda Brayford ( 1946) ,
novel of social hist ory t racing t he hist ory
of fam ilies t orn bet ween England & Aust .
but t he 1st World War is t he event t hat
reveals t he precarious qualit y of
civilizat ion in Aust & Brit ain. The bat t les in
France and t he parallel m obilizat ion in
England represent t he ult im at e denial of
t he hum an values t hat a societ y searches
t o be realized. When Blackbirds Sing
( 1962) , deals direct ly wit h W.W. I and
part icularly his experience in France.
Contemporary Novels of the First
World War
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1915: a Novel ( 1979) and Fly Away
Pet er ( 1981) are t wo recent novels
dealing wit h W.W.I . They int erpret
t he war by reconst ruct ing t he
im m ediacy of experience rat her t han
by put t ing t hem int o a part icular
hist orical cont ext .
Roger McDonald (1941—
(1941—)
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Born & educat ed in Sydney
I n 1915 while living in Canberra, he
worked on 1915
1915,, about t he Gallipoli
experience published in 1979,
winning t he Age Book of t he Year
Award & t he SA governm ent ’s
Biennial Lit erat ure Award.
David Malouf (1934—
(1934—)
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Born in Brisbane of Lebanese and English
parent s, living in Europe in 1959—
1959 —68
Maj or work Fly Away Pet er,
er , set in
Queensland before t he First World War
cent ralizing on t he crucial event s of t he
life of a dedicat ed birdbird - wat cher nam ed Jim
Saddler who becom es drawn int o t he war.
Malouf & MacDonald are concerned t o
discover t he effect of t he First World War
on Aust ns’ underst anding of t hem selves.