Anthem Quality

Christopher (Kit) Kelen is a well known Australian poet, scholar and visual artist. Professor of English at the University of Macau, he has taught Creative Writing and Literature there for the last thirteen years. Kelen has published a dozen volumes of poetry in English, as well as books of stories and novels for children and for adults. His most recent painting exhibition Imagens de Nada was at the Galeria do Salao Medieval, University of Minho, Portugual, in 2013. Volumes of Kelen’s poetry have been published in Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish and Filipino languages. Kelen’s research into national anthems dates back to the 1990s and he has published many articles on this subject.

• The Loyal Toast – A Personal Introduction1. Identification of the National Subjectthe idea of the anthem in the world today 2. The Official Poem of the Peopleanthems, their contexts and their common characteristics3. The Classification of Anthemsgenre and speech act4. Anthem Quality: Its Paradoxes and Parodiesthe uniformity of differences and the automatisation of strong affect 5. Choosing and Chosenthe overt and covert us and them of national devotions 6. Anthems for a Better Worldcosmopolitan and postcolonial hymns Conclusion: The Soul and Its Un/Official Stirrings