Reema Sarwal

Amit Sarwal

The chapters presented in this Reader, drawing on recent works, explore and analyse dynamic subject matter such as family, moral values, cultural hybridity, Asian-Australian dialogues, gender and racial stereotypes, the representations of Australianness, Indigenous Australia, imagery and motifs, the variety of Australian national symbols, mythology, traditions, representation or development of outback or suburban and metropolitan spaces in Australian cinema and culture. For a better understanding of the breadth and depth of Australia and its culture, the papers selected in this book also examine the exhibition of the Australian artist's aesthetic experimentation in the various faces of the Australian film industry, and the development and evolution of Australian film theory as part of the institutions of film studies and scholarly practices, using historical, archaeological and textual approaches for a wide variety of primary sources to discuss the trends of cinema and cultural consumption in Australia. In the area of purview, here, are not just commercial Australian films but also developments in new media, shorts, digital, art and documentary cinema in the broad context of globalization and international co-production.

Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader

Creative Nation

The Englishness of English literature had been expressed in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott, those writers whose works seemed best to embody the spirit of the place or the spirit of its folk. In what writers or works would the Australianness of Australian literature be discovered? (David Carter 1997)--------This first literary Reader on Australian studies from India not only investigates this central question but explores many other facets of Australian literature and especially Australian cross-cultural relationships with India and Asia. Taking a broad view of what Australian literature is, this Reader explores the dimensions of Australian literature (national, Aboriginal, multicultural, ecocritical, postcolonial, modernist, comparative, feminist, and popular) in its varied genres of drama, poetry, autobiography, explorers' journals, short stories, literature of war, travel writing, Anglo-Indian fiction, diasporic writing, mainstream novel, nature writing, children's literature, romance, science fiction, gothic literature, horror, crime fiction, queer writing, and humour. Each paper in this Reader presents different ways of "reading down under" and "performing Australianness." Juxtaposing the varied critical perspectives of nearly 60 critics this Reader hopes to create a constructive dialogue in the fight against the dominance of an Anglo-American academic approach.

Australian Literary Studies Reader

Reading Down Under

Ericka Hoagland

Though science fiction is often thought of as a Western phenomenon, the genre has long had a foothold in countries as diverse as India and Mexico. These fourteen critical essays examine both the role of science fiction in the third world and the role of the third world in science fiction. Topics covered include science fiction in Bengal, the genre’s portrayal of Native Americans, Mexican cyberpunk fiction, and the undercurrents of colonialism and Empire in traditional science fiction. The intersections of science fiction theory and postcolonial theory are explored, as well as science fiction’s contesting of imperialism and how the third world uses the genre to recreate itself. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Reema Sarwal

Books

Your next favorite book is out there