Publication Date: Aug 2013
RRP: $49.95
ISBN: 9781921867460
Format: Paperback
Size: 153mm x 234mm
Pages: 662
Category: Literary Studies

Telling Stories

Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012

Edited by Tanya Dalziell and Paul Genoni


‘[T]he first, belated, postmodern history of Australia’, Tony Hughes-Daeth, Westerly ‘hugely entertaining – a sort of QI in book form’
Susan Lever, Australian Book Review

‘I learnt a huge amount about Australia from reading Telling Stories. This collection is a testimony to the wealth of Australian literary and cultural productions, and these essays are truly gripping.’ Kate Livett, Southerly. Read the full review in Southerly


Telling Stories explores the interaction between literary culture and the public sphere in Australia, in a series of informative, witty, intelligent and thought-provoking essays. In doing so it unearths the fascinating and changing role that literature has played in Australia’s sporting, political, civic and cultural life.

The essays span many forms (fiction, memoir, letters, public lectures, theatre, cartoons, song) so that authors expressing themselves in very different ways and in different historical periods are heard in conversation for the first time. Accomplished writers and canonical texts share the pages with political milestones, cinematic breakthroughs, turning points in popular culture, largely forgotten novels and memorable musical and sporting moments,  to provide a fresh, kaleidoscopic view of literary Australia.

Telling Stories follows a chronological structure from 1935 to 2012, with each year (more or less) being represented with an entry (or two).


Tanya Dalziell

Tanya Dalziell works in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of Half the Perfect World, Settler Romances and the Australian Girl (2004), and co-editor (with Karen Welberry) of Cultural Seeds: Essays on the Work...
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Paul Genoni

Paul Genoni works with the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts at Curtin University. He is a former president of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, and co-editor (with Tanya Dalziell) of Telling Stories: Australian Life and Literature, 1935–2012 (2013).
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