Medievalism and the Gothic in Australian Culture (Hardcover)

This collection is designed too open up a new field of academic and general interest: Australian medievalism. That is, the heritage and continuing influence of medieval and gothic themes, ideas and narratives in Australian culture. Geographically removed from Europe, and distinguished by its eighteenth-century colonial settlement, Australia is a fascinating testing-ground on which to explore the cultural residues of medieval heritage and tradition. These traditions take distinctive form, once they have been 'transported' to a different topographical setting, and a cultural context whose relationship with Europe has always been dynamic and troubled. Early colonists attempted to make the unfamiliar landscape of Australia familiar by inscribing it with European traditions: in contrast, modern gothic and medievalist re-enactment groups celebrate their own modernity and their separation from tradition by consciously embracing the medieval and the gothic as an opportunity for postmodernist pastiche or simulation. The contributors represent a range of scholarly disciplines and traditions. Their subject matter includes the early narratives of Australian discovery, and the settlement of what was perceived as a hostile, gothic environment; exercises in medieval revivalism contemporaneous with the British nineteenth-century rediscovery of chivalric ideals and aesthetic, spiritual and architectural practices and models; the conscious invocation of medieval and gothic tropes in Australian fiction and poetry, including some Aboriginal fiction and children's literature; the transformation of the medieval and the gothic fantasy literature, role-playing games and subcultural groups, and finally, theimplications of medieval and gothic tropes for discussion of Australian nationalism.

General

Imprint:	Brepols N.V.
Country of origin:	Belgium
Release date:	November 2005
First published:	December 2005
Editors:	Stephanie Trigg
Dimensions:	248 x 168 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Paper over boards
Pages:	325
ISBN-13:	978-2-503-51702-5
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General
LSN:	2-503-51702-1
Barcode:	9782503517025

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