Literature and Politics

Taking as its premise that settler societies like Australia are essentially ‘imagined communities’ this paper will argue that the combination of historical, geographical and historical circumstances which contributed to its formation suggests that as far as this country is concerned Walter Benjamin’s notion of the human lot as a community of suffering throws light on a theme which  has been a central element in our sense  of national identity and purpose, the idea of a ‘fair go’ for all, that as he puts it, we ‘have been given hope for the sake of the hopeless.’

While it is true that this is associated with notions that are essentially pragmatic and secular ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’, for example, the evidence of literature would also suggest that it may be worth considering Benjamin’s image of ‘the dwarf in the chess machine’, the dwarf of theology, ‘which is small and ugly nowadays and cannot show itself under any circumstances’ and his suggestion that it may also be influencing and manipulating the outward machinery of historical materialism. With limited time it will not not be possible to range widely so that the paper will focus on one key text, Joseph Furphy’s Such Is Life. But it will also look briefly at work of more recent writers like Patrick White and David Malouf and explore the cultural and social  significance of  their more obviously metaphysical concerns for an understanding of the nature of national identity and of the challenges it is facing.

Veronica Brady taught for many years in the  Department of English and Cultural Studies   where she is since her retirement an Honorary Senior Research Fellow. She has published widely in Australian literature, culture and belief both nationally and internationally and her latest books are SOUTH OF MY DAYS. a biography of Judith Wright and a collection of essays, THE GOD-SHAPED HOLE.