Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women's War Fictions / Donna Coates.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coates, Donna, 1944- author.

Series:

Sydney studies in Australian literature.

Sydney Studies in Australian Literature Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Australian fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

Australian fiction.

War stories, Australian--History and criticism.

War stories, Australian.

Australian fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

World War, 1914-1918--Literature and the war.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1939-1945--Literature and the war.

World War, 1939-1945.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Literature and the war.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Sydney, NSW : Sydney University Press, [2023]

Summary:

<p>War is traditionally considered a male experience. By extension,the genre of war literature is a male-dominated field, and the taleof the battlefield remains the privileged (and only canonised) warstory.</p><p>In Australia, although women have written extensively abouttheir wartime experiences, their voices have been distinctivelysilenced. <em>Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend</em> calls for are-definition of war literature to include the numerous voices ofwomen writers, and further recommends a re-reading of Australiannational literatures, with women's war writing foregrounded, tobreak the hold of a male-dominated literary tradition and pass on avital, but unexplored, women's tradition.</p><p><em>Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend</em> examines the richbody of World Wars I and II and Vietnam War literature byAustralian women, providing the critical attention and treatmentthat they deserve. Donna Coates records the reaction of Australianwomen writers to these conflicts, illuminating the complex role ofgender in the interpretation of war and in the cultural history oftwentieth-century Australia.</p><p>By visiting an astonishing number of unfamiliar, non-canonicaltexts, <em>Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend</em> profoundlyalters our understanding of how Australian women writers haveinterpreted war, especially in a nation where the experience ofcolonising a frontier has spawned enduring myths of identity andstatehood.</p>.

Contents:

Front Matter(pp. ii-viii)

Acknowledgements(pp. ix-x)

Table of Contents(pp. xi-xii)

Introduction(pp. xiii-xx)

1 The Digger on the Lofty Pedestal Australian Women's Fictions of the Great War(pp. 3-24)

2 "Guns 'n' Roses" Mollie Skinner's Intrepid Great War Fictions(pp. 25-38)

3 (Not) Talking Back Australian Women Novelists Lose the Great (Linguistic) War(pp. 39-56)

4 Lesbia Harford's Home Front Warrior and Women's World War I Writing(pp. 57-66)

5 Sleeping with the Enemy Patriot Games in Fictions by Lesbia Harford, Gwen Kelly and Joan Dugdale(pp. 67-80)

6 Demilitarising a Military Culture Brenda Walker's The Wing of Night(pp. 81-102)

7 Damn(ed) Yankees The Pacific's Not Pacific Anymore(pp. 105-116)

8 "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" in the Film Adaptation of Come in Spinner(pp. 117-132)

9 Country Matters in the Little (Southern Steel) Company(pp. 133-150)

10 Reality Bites The Impact of World War II on the Australian Home Front in Maria Gardner's Blood Stained Wattle and Robin Sheiner's Smile, the War Is Over(pp. 151-168)

11 Loving Thine Enemies Representations of Italian Prisoners of War in Contemporary Australian Women's World War II Fictions(pp. 169-198)

12 Lies, Secrets and Silences Japanese Prisoners-of-War in World War II Australian Women's Novels(pp. 199-234)

13 No Hell Like Peacetime Going (Down) Under in the Land of the "Fair Go"(pp. 235-250)

14 The New "Anzacs Two" Make their Debut in Contemporary Australian Women's Fictions(pp. 251-272)

15 Coming Home The Return of the (Australian Vietnam War) Soldier(pp. 275-286)

16 "All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance" The Vietnam War Protest Movement in Australian Women's Fictions by Janine Burke, Patricia Cornelius, Nuri Mass and Wendy Scarfe(pp. 287-306)

17 O What a Lovely War No More Shooting Blanks in Helen Nolan's Between the Battles: A Novel(pp. 307-322)

Conclusion - Boomerangs do come back(pp. 323-328)

Works cited(pp. 329-342)

Index(pp. 343-345).

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781743329252

1743329253

9781743329030

1743329032

OCLC:

1407094297