Does Australia have a literary heritage worth examining?

Over the coming lessons we will examine the contribution of indigenous literature to the Australian literary heritage.

In doing so we will expand our knowledge of style.

Style is important, as our job leading into the next assessment task

IS TO CREATETO TELL STORIES ABOUT OUR LIVES

In reading literature that is culturally distinct from ours, we reshape and reimagine the boundaries that secretly circumscribe our worldview.

Before we start we will have a brief discussion on the concept of indigenous literature itself.

Adam Shoemaker in an article for The Oxford Literary History of Australia begins his discussion of Aboriginal literature as follows:

The historical dates which constitute what is known as chronological time have often been used to imprison Australias indigenous people

Q 1. Why do you suppose the author made this claim?

Q 2. How can chronological time be used to imprison Australias indigenous people?

Q 3. What implications does this statement have for our discussion of indigenous literature as a concept?

Shoemaker continues by saying:

Terms such as prehistory and preliteracy carry with them the strongest sense of a time before--and a time after. Of course, these dividing lines have been imposed retrospectively upon Black Australians by those who are not members of that culture. Such arbitrary demarcations also imply that the past begins when it is recorded in legible script, not when human beings began to commit stories to memory.What cannot be ignored is the fact that scores of Aboriginal verbal artists have told and re-told tales which defy datable chronology. Indigenous Australian storytellers lay down tracks in their narratives: tracks which are typically circular; which journey forwards and backwards; which involve transformations, metamorphoses, changes. Above all, they are stories in which journeys take place, in which journeys themselves are the story.

Q 4. Why are the terms prehistory and preliteracy inappropriate to describe the chronology of Australian indigenous literature?

Q 5. According to the Author, what are the distinctive features of Australian indigenous literature?

Q 6. Do you agree or disagree with the authors critique of the western literary tradition? Why?

Activity 1. Relate a story from your life in a style that fits Adam Shoemakers description of Australian Indigenous literature.

That is to say, without having a full understanding write a piece that exhibits: Circularity (The story ends at the place where it began) Involves a journey Should be told verbally, etc.

Homework for next lesson will be to look up the work of:

Paddy Roe Trevor Nicholls

As these are the artists we will be studying in the coming lessons.