AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Transnational Literature has been on quite a journey over the last two years, so we genuinely couldn’t be prouder to be bringing you Volume 12.
'The journal has, as regular readers will know, evolved and adapted since its inception. Transnational Literature started with the ground-breaking work of Professor Syd Harrex who brought the study of new literatures in English to Flinders University, South Australia. Dr Gillian Dooley, prolific scholar and Research Fellow in English, developed the journal over the next decade with a hard-working, volunteer Editorial Team and the support of senior scholars on an Advisory Board drawn from institutions around the world. By 2018, the journal had reached an international audience of over 2000 readers.' (Editor's Letter, introduction)
Notes
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Only literary material within AustLit's scope individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:
Jay by Zhou Zan
Slowing by Bao Huiyi
Worried about Home by Chris Song Zijiang
Featured Poet: Alvin Pang
Arm's Length by Safia Elhillo
Vivan's Woes by Sujata Sankranti
The Visit by John Gresham
What We Learn in Times of Pestilence by Gemma Parker
Chanez by Jayne Marshall
My Hikikomori by Maria Santamaria
Here and There by Shahminee Selvakannu
Poppies in the Post and Other Poems by Debashish Lahiri, reviewed by Amelia Walker
The Tainted by Cauvery Madhavan and Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela, reviewed by Maggie Gee
The Parisian by Isabella Hammad, reviewed by Kristien Potgieter
V.S. Naipaul’s Journeys: From Periphery to Center by Sanjay Krishnan, reviewed by Gillian Dooley
Sita’s Sisters by Sanjukta Dasgupta, reviewed by Jaydeep Sarangi
Rabindranath Tagore by Bashabi Fraser, reviewed by Suparna Banerjee
Contents
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Indigenous Transnational : Pluses and Perils and Tara June Winch,
single work
criticism
'In the context of the "transnational turn" in Australian literary studies, I consider the dynamics of writing and reading by and around Aboriginal literature. Positioning of authors, books and readings across, through and beyond nation spaces has particular challenges for Indigenous writers who locate identity on "country", with reception determined largely by a national framing. Informed by work from Lynda Ng, Chadwick Allen and others, the article examines the transnational movements of and around the fiction of Tara June Winch.' (Publication abstract)
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An Unrecorded Grammar : Speaking Embodiment in J. M. Coetzee’s “In the Heart of the Country”,
single work
criticism
'This essay seeks to understand how J. M. Coetzee's In the Heart of the Country elaborates a response to the suffering body through linguistic indeterminacy, including its formal and structural presentation of numbered and often contradictory passages and through the liminality of the narrator Magda's consciousness. Grounding the paper on the possibility that In the Heart of the Country functions through its lacunae, I argue that Magda rewrites the oppressive language she has inherited by pointing to realities words cannot grasp, including the irreducible witness of the body in pain. The body stands as an incontrovertible presence just outside the reach of language, where, in its refusal to be codified, it catalyses new, transgressive attempts at speaking. Such attempts function as a body-speech that could transform the speaking-about of Magda's monologue into the speaking-to of reciprocity. It is a language that Magda, however, ultimately fails to articulate. She remains suspended in potentiality, reading the signals "in conformations of face and hands" that communicate, incompletely, the mysteries of another's being. But perhaps the act of speaking to another must always remain poised on the brink of failure: response to the unknown of another's being requires an unrecorded grammar. Thus, in the lacunae of his unfixed text, Coetzee offers a linguistic event as response to actual suffering.' (Publication summary)
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Earwitnesses,
single work
essay
'Having an accent in spoken English is a common linguistic reality for many migrants and their subsequent generations. In reality, having a linguistic variation can result in "othering", prejudice, discrimination, and racism. I wanted to explore and respond to what it means to have an accent, for both speakers and listeners. This essay includes moments of the personal with cultural, critical, and contemporary responses; poetic interruptions and instances of first language loss; of how accented language can be used to exclude and identify, but should be used to include.' (Publication abstract)
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The Chinese Poet as Translator,
single work
essay
'With a view to increasing cross-cultural interaction and introducing readers to contemporary poetry from different parts of the world, Transnational Literature includes a small guest editor slot in its poetry section, curated by - and partly featuring the work of - an established poet from a country where English is not the first language. In this issue were honoured to have a selection of Chinese poetry curated by award-winning poet iris Fan Xing. Fan draws attention to the importance of translation as an act of cultural exchange and as a vehicle for enriching and informing languages.' (Publication abstract)
- South of Wordsi"you could say在異國", single work poetry
- The Lady of Shalott in 2020i"The grand architecture of the world", single work poetry
- When Your Best Friend Tells You She Is Having An Affairi"The first thing you realise", single work poetry
- Ripplesi"Trees wearing the spirit", single work poetry
- Low-hanging Fruiti"all this time, because he is being paid to and because he has been asked to, he has been watching", single work poetry
- The Real Presence, single work short story
- Trees of Truth, single work short story
- Qatar : Sunshine, Sand and Souqs, single work prose
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Book Review : Aftershocks by Anthony Macris,
single work
review
— Review of Aftershocks : Selected Writings and Interviews 2019 selected work essay review ; -
Book Review : Mosaics from the Map & Under This Saffron Sun – Safran Güneşin Altında,
single work
review
— Review of Mosaics from the Map 2018 selected work poetry ; Under This Saffron Sun /Safran Güneşin Altında Mehmet Ali Celikel (translator), 2019 selected work poetry ; -
Book Review : To Gather Your Leaving,
single work
review
— Review of To Gather Your Leaving : Asian Diaspora Poetry from America, Australia, UK & Europe 2019 anthology poetry ; -
Book Review : In Search of The Woman Who Sailed the World,
single work
review
— Review of In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World 2020 single work biography ;