Book Reviews

THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALIA

Nicholas Jose(general editor), with a foreword by Thomas Keneally

Hyperbole is the lingua franca of the shameless book publicist. Their latest books are invariably 'big', 'important', 'ground-breaking', 'vital' or 'unprecedented'. No need for any of that here, though - this wonderful book says all of those things by itself.

The Literature of Australia is certainly big (at 1,464 pages), but, since it's an anthology, dipping in and out is positively encouraged, and ennui has no chance to settle in before you move onwards and upwards. And what fun that is. The book begins with a 1788 letter from a British naval surgeon detailing the arrival of an expedition to create the first penal colony and his encounters with the Aboriginal population. The last entry is by Chi Vu, a Vietnamese immigrant playwright born in 1973. Between them, there is a multitude of letters, plays, poems, songs, novels, plays and histories.

The editors, as you'd expect in a nation where bolshiness is venerated, have turned their backs on an overly narrow definition of 'literature'. Waltzing Matilda, Australia's unofficial national anthem, is deservedly included not only for its iconic status but for the fact that Banjo Patterson, its author, also wrote the marvellous The Man from Snowy River, a poem that describes a roundup of mustang horses with breathtaking rhythm and energy.

Mischievous Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna Everage, rightly shares space with Nobel Literature Prize-winner Patrick White; while Aboriginal poet Errol West's moving Sitting, wondering, do I have a place here? is included alongside work by JM Coetzee.

This collection is the result of years of effort by a legion of Australian writers, in collaboration with several universities and government departments. Too big for your pocket, it will fit well in your 'Matilda' (swag) when you're seeking the shade of a coolibah tree.

WW Norton & CO, 35 pounds