The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction

This paper examines the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it has been represented in a series of Australian novels that focus on the period of its construction. Contemporary interest in the Bridge is contrasted with the period of its construction when, despite its very obvious appeal to visual artists, the B...

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Main Author: Genoni, Paul
Format: Journal Article
Published: Association for the Study of Australian Literature 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/viewFile/2196/2907
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4025
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author Genoni, Paul
author_facet Genoni, Paul
author_sort Genoni, Paul
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description This paper examines the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it has been represented in a series of Australian novels that focus on the period of its construction. Contemporary interest in the Bridge is contrasted with the period of its construction when, despite its very obvious appeal to visual artists, the Bridge was all but ignored by writers of fiction. It is argued that these recent novels look back at the construction of the Bridge through a post-modern lens, at a time when the Bridge has transcended its roots in functional interwar-modernity and been reinvented as a centrepiece of Australia’s most visible and theatrical urban space.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-40252017-02-28T01:25:25Z The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction Genoni, Paul Vicki Hastrich Sydney Harbour Bridge Peter Corris Post-modern cities Twentieth Century Australian fiction Alex Miller Ruth Park Ashley Hay This paper examines the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it has been represented in a series of Australian novels that focus on the period of its construction. Contemporary interest in the Bridge is contrasted with the period of its construction when, despite its very obvious appeal to visual artists, the Bridge was all but ignored by writers of fiction. It is argued that these recent novels look back at the construction of the Bridge through a post-modern lens, at a time when the Bridge has transcended its roots in functional interwar-modernity and been reinvented as a centrepiece of Australia’s most visible and theatrical urban space. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4025 http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/viewFile/2196/2907 Association for the Study of Australian Literature fulltext
spellingShingle Vicki Hastrich
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Peter Corris
Post-modern cities
Twentieth Century Australian fiction
Alex Miller
Ruth Park
Ashley Hay
Genoni, Paul
The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title_full The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title_fullStr The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title_full_unstemmed The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title_short The Sydney Harbour Bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in Australian fiction
title_sort sydney harbour bridge: from modernity to post-modernity in australian fiction
topic Vicki Hastrich
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Peter Corris
Post-modern cities
Twentieth Century Australian fiction
Alex Miller
Ruth Park
Ashley Hay
url http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/viewFile/2196/2907
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4025