Australian anthology to shed light on history
Thu Oct 8 18:27:37 EST 2009
Thu Oct 8 07:27:37 UTC 2009
Subject: [Fwd: FED: Australian anthology to shed light on history] name="FED: Australian anthology to shed light on history.eml" filename*0="FED: Australian anthology to shed light on history.eml" Subject: FED: Australian anthology to shed light on history FED: Australian anthology to shed light on history
CANBERRA, Oct 8 AAP - A new anthology of the country's best literature has been launched in the US, with the aim of illuminating what it truly means to be Australian.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature had the capacity to provide a window into the heart and minds of Australians.
A collaboration six years in the making, it includes literary pieces from well known authors such as Peter Carey, Patrick White, the poetry of Henry Lawson, rocker Nick Cave and Judith Wright.
A speech by former prime minister Paul Keating, a memoir by Germaine Greer and a few works of Barry Humphries, a la Dame Edna Everage, are also among the more than 500 pieces by 300 authors.
Covering the most significant writings over the past two centuries, Ms Gillard told the launch party the anthology would help Americans understand a little bit more about Australia.
"It recalls some graphic, scarifying moments from our recent and more distant past," she said in Washington on Wednesday.
There was a "certain distinctiveness in the Australian voice. Not a voice that is strident or over-reaching or apologetic.
"It is unique, it has character and it has warmth," she said.
Australia's wildlife, its post-colonial history, ensuing migration as well as its political journey are some of the elements at play in the book.
The diversity of the pieces, as well as its authors, was a true reflection of Australia, Ms Gillard said.
The heavy tome - comprising 1504 pages - is expected to become a key tool in Australian classrooms as well, and follows in the footsteps of the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, published in 2008.
