Hassall, Anthony (2000) Over there: the dream/nightmare of Europe in Tim Winton's The Riders and George Johnston's Clean straw for Nothing. Overland, 161 (Summer). pp. 26-30.

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Abstract

George Johnstone's Clean Straw for Nothing (1969) and Tim Winton's The Riders (1994) belong to the substantial sub-genre of Australian writing dealing with the experience of Australians who journey to Europe in search of a cultural home. Classic examples of the genre include Henry Handel Richardson's The Fortunes of Richard Mahony(1917-30), Martin Boyd's Lucinda Brayford (1946) and Ray Lawler's The Piccadilly Bushman (1959). Despite the lengthening distance from Australia's colonial past, and the lessening of the cultural cringe, the genre -shows no signs of disappearing, as recent examples like David Malouf's The Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996) and Peter Carey's Jack Maggs (1997) indicate. Australians continue to undertake the ritual pilgrimage to a Europe rendered alluring by distance, absence and perceived cultural centrality. The literature generated by this experience chronicles the contradictory emotions, and the conflicting national and cultural allegiances that journeying arouses. In this article I want to look at some of the ways in which Clean Straw for Nothing and The Riders contribute to this continuing, failure haunted search for a mythologized cultural centre or homeland.

Item ID:	12977
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0030-7416
Keywords:	Australian fiction; expatriatism; literary criticism; social history
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2013 04:35
FoR Codes:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2005 Literary Studies > 200599 Literary Studies not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 100%
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