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Displaying results 1 to 7 of 7.

People and Place »

The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in History and Literature

Authored by: Len Richardson
Publication date: May 2020
This book traces the enduring relationship between history, people and place that has shaped the character of a single region in a manner perhaps unique within the New Zealand experience. It explores the evolution of a distinctive regional literature that both shaped and was shaped by the physical and historical environment that inspired it. Looking westwards towards Australia and long shut off within New Zealand by the South Island’s rugged Southern Alps, the West Coast was a land of gold, coal and timber. In the 1950s and 1960s, it nurtured a literature that embodied a sense of belonging to an Australasian world and captured the aspirations of New Zealand’s emergent radical nationalism. More recent West Coast writers, observing the hollowing out of their communities, saw in miniature and in advance the growing gulf between city and regional economies aligned to an older economic order losing its relevance. Were they chronicling the last hurrah of a retreating age or crafting a literature of regional resistance?

Read till it shatters »

Nationalism and identity in modern Thai literature

Authored by: Thak Chaloemtiarana
Publication date: August 2018
This book introduces readers to modern Thai literature through the themes of modernity, nationalism, identity and gender. In the cultural, political and social transformations that occurred in Thailand during the first half of the twentieth century, Thai literature was one of the vehicles that moved the changes. Taking seriously ‘read till it shatters’, a Thai phrase that instructs readers to take apart the text, to break it down, to deconstruct it, Thak Chaloemtiarana challenges the Thai literary canon from the margins and suggests ways of expanding and enriching it. Thai literature is scarce in translation and requires the skills of a scholar fluent in Thai to comprehend it. Thak is a political scientist turned literary scholar who is bilingual in Thai and English and an avid reader of Thai fiction by authors up and down the social scale. Here he offers lively insights into his favourite literary genres with fresh readings of early Thai novels, Sino-Thai biographies and memoirs of the rich and famous. ‘Thak Chaloemtiarana is an inquisitive man. Late in his career he switched from politics to literature. In these chapters, he draws on a lifetime of reading about writers and writing in Thailand over the past century. He nods towards the usual big names—King Vajiravudh, Luang Wichit, Kulap Saipradit, Kukrit Pramoj—but spends more time on those found in the lesser visited stacks of the libraries, the secondhand bookstalls, and the shelf by the supermarket checkout. His themes are familiar—Thailand and the West, Thai nationalism, the Thai-Chinese, and women under patriarchy—but the angles of vision are original. With a cast ranging from motor-racing princes through sexy Egyptian mummies and a feminist serial murderer to starlets touting breast-enhancement techniques, this book educates, enlightens, and entertains.’ — Dr Chris Baker, Bangkok-based author with Pasuk Phongpaichit, A History of Ayutthaya (Cambridge 2017)

Clio’s Lives »

Biographies and Autobiographies of Historians

Publication date: October 2017
Including contributions from leading scholars in the field from both Australia and North America, this collection explores diverse approaches to writing the lives of historians and ways of assessing the importance of doing so. Beginning with the writing of autobiographies by historians, the volume then turns to biographical studies, both of historians whose writings were in some sense nation-defining and those who may be regarded as having had a major influence on defining the discipline of history. The final section explores elements of collective biography, linking these to the formation of historical networks. A concluding essay by Barbara Caine offers a critical appraisal of the study of historians’ biographies and autobiographies to date, and maps out likely new directions for future work. Clio’s Lives is a very good scholarly collection that advances the study of autobiography and biography within the writing of history itself, taking theoretical questions in significant new directions. The contributors are well known and highly respected in the history profession and write with an insight and intellectual energy that will ensure the book has considerable impact. They examine cutting-edge issues about the writing of history at the personal level through autobiography and biography in diverse and innovative ways. Together the writers have provided reflective chapters that will be widely read for their impressive theoretical advances as well as being inspirational for new entrants to the disciplinary area. — Patricia Grimshaw, University of Melbourne Clio’s Lives brings together a most interesting and varied cast of contributors. Its chapters contain sophisticated and well-penned ruminations on the uses of biography and autobiography among historians. These are clearly connected with the general themes of the volume. This delightfully mixed bag makes very good reading and, as well, will serve as a substantial contribution to the study of the biography and autobiography. — Eric Richards, Flinders University

The Muse as I Hear Her »

Authored by: Giles Pickford
Publication date: October 2013
This volume, The Muse as I Hear Her, has been compiled at the urging of ANU Emeritus Faculty to honour Giles Pickford, an admired colleague of long standing. Giles began his appointment in the ANU Public Affairs Division on the 21st of November 1988 and retired on the 8th of May 1998. At that time, a group of colleagues had formed an association that was to become the ANU Emeritus Faculty. From 1998 to the end of 2012, Giles was Secretary to the Emeritus Faculty. He served the Emeritus Faculty for a longer period than he was officially employed at ANU, and continued in the role of Corresponding Secretary until health intervened at the age of 73.   The Emeritus Faculty wanted to honour Giles for his good fellowship and for the many services he rendered to the Faculty by highlighting one of Giles' special interests: his close involvement in the ANU Poets' Lunch.   This volume is a token of recognition from friends and colleagues to Giles Pickford for his multiple contributions to the life of the University and its community.

The Light Inside the Shadow: An Anthology of Works by BlueBoard Members »

Edited by: Julia Reynolds, Joanne Allen, Michelle Anderson
Publication date: January 2013
BlueBoard is an online community for people concerned about mental health problems including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, borderline personality and related disorders. There are forums for people working on their own recovery and for friends and family members. The aim of BlueBoard is to enable people to reach out and both offer and receive help. BlueBoard is free, anonymous and available at any time from around the world. The delivery of BlueBoard is supported by funding from the Australian Department of Health.

Learning Spaces »

Youth, Literacy and New Media in Remote Indigenous Australia

Authored by: Inge Kral, Robert G. Schwab
Publication date: August 2012
'This work offers us the rare opportunity to step inside innovative uses of technologies, mergers of global technologies into local knowledge, and community advocacy of local history and ideology…The young people who move through these pages are motivated and proud of having had the opportunities that make possible their linking together of historical knowledge and contemporary means of communication and performance. The means illustrated here have enabled them to develop skills that will help them move into the future as adults engaged with the health and life of their own communities, connected to their language and culture as their way of being in the world of the local so as to know the world of the global.' Professor Shirley Brice Heath Stanford University, USA

Dance of the Nomad »

A Study of the Selected Notebooks of A.D.Hope

Authored by: Ann McCulloch
Publication date: November 2010
The notebooks of A. D. Hope are a portrait of the contradictory essence of the poet’s intellect and character. Shot through with threads of self-awareness and revelation, Hope imbued his notebooks with irony and humour, forming them as a celebration of the joy and terror of human existence. Stripped of intimate revelation, the entries give witness to Hope’s view that art is a superior force in the creation of new being and values, and a guide for the conduct of our lives. Seeking to find pathways through the maze of an intellectual life, this is a profound and timely contribution to Australia’s literary scholarship. Ann McCulloch’s analysis of this thematic selection of Hope’s notebooks reveals him to be relentless in his experimentation with ideas. Revealing the originality of his thinking and the astonishing range of his reading and interests, this edition is a testament to the intellect of one of Australia’s towering literary figures.