The Making of the Australian Literary Imagination

In this controversial and engrossing study, Richard Nile debunks some of the powerful myths of cultural nationalism and observes its passing in favour of the celebrity author. He explores the power of nationalism as a governing force in the creation and ultimate demise of Australian literature, In a clear and accessible way, Nile invokes the stylistic possibilities of narrative history and creative non-fiction, playfully blurring the lines between them. The Making of the Australian Literary Imagination moves from literary London to the delights of Australian bookshops, gets inside Angus and Robertson and interrogates the politics of reputation. It investigates censorship and patronage, paperback heroes and the able-bodied writer, and explores cinema and literature in the century that quite clearly belonged to the novelist.