The "Great Australian Novel"

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The "Great Australian Novel"

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1Bushwhacked
Ago 6, 2019, 7:44 am

It's 2019... YOU are writing the "Great Australian Novel"... What's your Plot?

2dajashby
Ago 7, 2019, 12:42 am

What's yours?

3Bushwhacked
Ago 7, 2019, 1:16 am

And a very good question that is!

I recently re-read Marcus Clark's "For the Term of His Natural Life" and it occurred to me to wonder what Australian novels from the late 20th or early 21st century will be still in publication in 100 years time. To that end I have been pondering what makes a novel that stands the test of time, by which I mean one that you might find on the required reading list of Australian Literature course at University level (… err... if they still even offer such courses?) … or even at High School Certificate English level... (errr... if they even still make students read literary novels?). It occurred to me that novels that stick in my mind that might fit the bill tend to have a historical setting... think for example George Johnson's "My Brother Jack" or Patrick White's "Voss" (both of which were served up to me years ago in an educational setting).

… as opposed to ripping out an immediate international blockbusting cash cow with the aim of selling the rights to Hollywood!

4dajashby
Ago 7, 2019, 2:25 am

… as opposed to ripping out an immediate international blockbusting cash cow with the aim of selling the rights to Hollywood!

That would be "The Thorn Birds", I presume.

"Picnic at Hanging Rock" has a historical setting, but "My Brother Jack" doesn't, it's just that the story takes place in the period when Johnston lived his early life, which happens to be before we were born. The crude rule of thumb is that to qualify as a historical novel a book should be set at least 50 years before the time at which it was written.

I think that "Cloud Street", which is very common as a set text for English Literature at high school level, has already achieved canonical status, and some of Winton's other books may well go the same way.

So what 'literary' Australian fiction do you read for pleasure, not because somebody made you? I'm rather keen - among others - on Tom Keneally, Steven Carroll and Robert Drewe, myself.

5mrspenny
Editado: Ago 7, 2019, 4:38 am

I have read a couple of Tim Winton's books but they do not appeal to me. I find his male characters far too fractured.
Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller would be on my list.
Katharane Susannah Prichard's Trilogy of the W.A. Goldfields of the 1890s would be near the top of my list.
The top of the list would bePoor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert. I found it a compelling book.

>3I would like to think that Australian literature courses would still exist at some level in the distant future but course funding is all about student enrollment numbers these days isn't it and which courses might secure students employment in post university life.

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