177: THE CONSOLATION OF LITERATURE
ISBN 0 9750837 4 0
SUMMER 2004

In the post election context Overland 177: The Consolation of Literature looks at the role of literature and literary politics.

PETER HAYES examines PETER CRAVEN’s literary criticism, concluding that “his only achievement as a critic (has) been to take up space that others might have filled productively.”

ANDREW McCANN rejects the recent panic-mongering over the “decline” in quality of Australian literature and explains why quality fiction is rarely discussed in mainstream media.

THOMAS SHAPCOTT recalls the first days of the Literature Board. He contrasts payments and conditions for writers today with the relative “golden years” of the Whitlam Government, “what began as equivalent to a federal parliamentary backbencher’s salary has ended up as being much less than that same backbencher’s tax-free allowances.”

IVAN CAÑADAS discusses the sanitising of Christos Tsiolkas’s novel Loaded in Ana Kokkinos’s film adaptation, Head On.

GEORGIE ARNOTT explores the role of poetry in public political discussion through the writings of Australian poets Judith Wright and Gig Ryan.

Historian RAYMOND EVANS discusses ‘forgotten’ histories in Australia and links present social struggle with the past.

JESS WHYTE reviews TONY KEVIN’s A Certain Maritime Incident, in which KEVIN argues that the sinking of Siev X “was not merely exploited but created by the Australian Government”.

OVERLAND 177 contains new writing including fiction, poetry, memoir and reviews.