Seeking the Centre

The Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film

Inbunden, Engelska, 1999

996 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar. Fri frakt över 249 kr.

Beskrivning

The desert has a hypnotic presence in Australian culture, simultaneously alluring and repellent. The 'Centre' is distant and unknown to most Australians, yet has become a symbol of the country. This exciting book reveals the singular impact that the desert, both geographical and metaphorical, has had on Australian culture. At the heart of this highly illustrated full colour book is the profound relationship that Aboriginal Australians have with the desert, and the complex ways in which they have been seen by white people in this context. The various attempts to conquer and colonise the 'hideous blank' by nineteenth-century explorers is covered in illuminating ways. In the twentieth century the desert was rediscovered by travellers, artists, novelists, poets and film makers. More recently the desert has been promoted as a site for eco-tourism, new age enlightenment and environmental renewal.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:1999-01-04
Mått:183 x 258 x 31 mm
Vikt:975 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:364
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9780521571111

Utforska kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur
Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur

Recensioner i media

'This is a book that will be around, and widely quoted, for a very long time. It deserves to be.' Serendipity

Innehållsförteckning

1. The land is a map: the Aboriginal relationship to the desert; 2. Forms, images, imaginings: European myths of the desert; 3. The 'hideous blank': imperatives for discovery; 4. Geography is never innocent: or, what the explorers thought they saw; 5. Perspectives on the desert: the art of exploration; 6. 'On the tracts of thirst and furnace': dead explorers and national identity; 7. Ripping yarns at the outpost of empire: the desert as adventure; 8. From 'dead heart' to 'red centre': travellers' tales and the lure of gold; 9. Seeing red: twentieth-century art of the desert; 10. A gothic desert: psychodrama in fiction and film; 11. Revisioning the explorers in twentieth-century art; 12. Transforming myths: the explorers in twentieth-century literature; 13. Seeing through biology: contemporary artists examine the desert; 14. The desert in the Age of Aquarius: environmentalism and renewal; 15. The art of reconciliation.