The "vision of the victors" and "the vision of the vanquished"

More about the book

2008 marked the 220th anniversary of permanent white settlement in Australia, a year of celebration that also highlighted ongoing tensions. While the tourist industry's portrayal of Australia is rich with Aboriginal motifs, the discussions surrounding frontier conflict, dispossession, and Indigenous rights remain critical to Australian society. This raises questions about the literary responses from both Aboriginal and white authors, particularly how their interpretations diverge from the colonial narratives that have long framed frontier conflict through simplistic notions of civilization versus savagery. Nina Liewald investigates contemporary Australian novels' capacity to challenge these colonial dichotomies and bridge cultural divides, situating them within a broader literary and cultural context. Through detailed narratological analyses, she reveals how colonial stereotypes related to religion, sexuality, violence, language, and orality are represented, questioned, or subverted. The ongoing "History Wars"—a significant debate over the interpretation of Australian history and Aboriginal rights—serve as a crucial backdrop for the novels examined, underscoring the enduring relevance and contentious nature of these issues.