Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction

This paper examines the way in which contemporary Australian novelists use various tropes derived from exploration in order to embellish themes of personal search in their fiction. By doing so they have borrowed from the language and myths created by what was essentially an exercise in imperialism,...

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Main Author: Genoni, Paul
Format: Journal Article
Published: Australia Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology. 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11997
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author Genoni, Paul
author_facet Genoni, Paul
author_sort Genoni, Paul
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper examines the way in which contemporary Australian novelists use various tropes derived from exploration in order to embellish themes of personal search in their fiction. By doing so they have borrowed from the language and myths created by what was essentially an exercise in imperialism, and applied them to the quest by individuals in the settler society to find a permanent spiritual home in the new country. The exploration imagery proves to be apposite, in that just as the empire's hopes were dashed when exploration of the inland was repelled by the barren heart of the continent, so too has the metaphysical exploration of the same spaces foundered on uncompromising and withholding landscapes.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-119972017-01-30T11:28:05Z Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction Genoni, Paul Peter Carey Exploration in literature Thea Astley This paper examines the way in which contemporary Australian novelists use various tropes derived from exploration in order to embellish themes of personal search in their fiction. By doing so they have borrowed from the language and myths created by what was essentially an exercise in imperialism, and applied them to the quest by individuals in the settler society to find a permanent spiritual home in the new country. The exploration imagery proves to be apposite, in that just as the empire's hopes were dashed when exploration of the inland was repelled by the barren heart of the continent, so too has the metaphysical exploration of the same spaces foundered on uncompromising and withholding landscapes. 2001 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11997 Australia Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology. fulltext
spellingShingle Peter Carey
Exploration in literature
Thea Astley
Genoni, Paul
Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title_full Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title_fullStr Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title_full_unstemmed Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title_short Subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary Australian fiction
title_sort subverting the empire: exploration in contemporary australian fiction
topic Peter Carey
Exploration in literature
Thea Astley
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11997