Literary techniques, structures & modes

In Thomas Keneally's four published novels, tendencies which we have grown familiar with in the fiction of H. H. Richardson Christina Stead, Patrick White, Hal…

For the Term of His Natural Life has proved by the test of time to be one of the most popular Australian novels, but it…

No one seems to have made a detailed critical analysis of the work as a novel, although it was conveniently labelled one of the finest…

The form of Kangaroo has found few admirers. John Middleton Murry described it as 'a chaotic book. It has many passages of great descriptive beauty…

Hal Porter's early short stories may be seen as constant experiments designed to solve the problems associated with maintaining effective distance from his material and…

Barry Oakley's name has become associated in Melbourne during the late '60's and early 70's with the new playwrights, David Williamson, John Romeril, Jack Hibberd…

A close reading of Slessor’s sequence, focussing on the nature of the visions and the visionaries; the use Slessor makes of his sources; and questions…

The significance of recurrent imagery in Patrick White's novels, not only as it contributes to a distinctive stylistic texture but also as a vehicle for…

The essay about Jolley’s women ‘looks at the ways in which Jolley represents women’s longing for other women; it argues that this longing is central…

The article looks at the last four novels by Jolley which were ‘somewhat neglected by scholars’. Taken as a body of ‘late work’ with some…

Readers of Shirley Hazzard's fiction have long been familiar with the ways her densely allusive prose embeds her stories and her characters in European art…

Discusses Carey's approach to writing narrative and about narrative, focusing on Harry Joy's stories in Bliss. Dovey shows how the novel foregrounds the…

Reconsiders Helen Simpson's 1932 novel Boomerang, focusing on its structure, use of historical sources, character and style.

"I would like to insist that this paper is serious, but not academic. It is an impressionist piece, even if it relies heavily on metaphors…

Examines the political consequences inherent in the genre of the ‘well-made novel’. Argues that ‘a reading of The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith may tell us…

Using biographical criticism as its methodological starting point, Kinnane’s article discusses Johnston’s way of creating fiction out of personal experience, highlights where he departs from…

It has been generally accepted that the theme of Capricornia is racial conflict. The book's virtues are most often described in terms of that conflict…

Discusses the narrative methods of Thea Astley's A Kindness Cup and Elizabeth Jolley's Miss Peabody's Inheritance, in particular Astley's attention to narrative chronology and…

Discusses Malouf’s ‘elusive’ fiction in the context of his poetry, concentrating on the treatment of common developing concerns.

Michael Wilding's Pacific Highway is his pastoral romance; a true descendant of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe and similar antique prose narratives, incorporating Theocritan and Arcadian…