Publisher's Synopsis
The literary relationship between Australia and Britain has evolved over the last 200 years from one of total dependence of a colony on its mother countries for ideas and affirmation to one of independence and equal partnership in the creation of literature in English. It is the strength and diversity of this relationship which this text explores. From Dickens to Drabble, from Lawson to Lette, the book ranges across 15 themes. Here are the words of explorers and utopians, convicts and their gaolers, nation buiders, travellers, university students, fledgling and established writers, migrants and expatriates, prize winners, publishers and satirists, and literary visitors, each of them expressing an opinion or offering an insight about Australia or about Britain. The book allows these participants in the literary relationship to speak for themselves, with a wealth of extracts supported by pictures, many from the collection held by the National Library of Australia, Canberra.
