Taylor, Cheryl (2017) "I Really Wanted to Write Novels That Are Poems": The multiple Effects of Poetry in Thea Astley's Fiction". Southerly, 77 (3). pp. 40-61.

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Abstract

In 1944, nineteen-year-old Thea Astley published “Poetic Fire” as her first contribution to Barjai, an arts magazine founded a year earlier by Brisbane State High students Laurence Collinson and Barrie Reid. Brave and witty but also defensive, Astley’s essay presupposes her identity as a poet and marks a stage in what was to be a continuing investigation of poets and the writing and reception of poetry. Astley began this investigation when she was a schoolgirl and continued it in the fiction she wrote between 1956 and 1999, i.e. throughout her career as a prose author. In 1986 she affirmed in an interview that she “really wanted to write novels that are poems” (Richey 99-100). This aspiration explains both the poetic personas and quotations from Astley’s poems that abound in her fiction and the “idiosyncratic, image-encrusted style” (O.C.A.L) that has sparked critical debate for decades.

Item ID:	67438
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0038-3732
Keywords:	Thea Astley; poetry; poetic prose
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2022 02:07
FoR Codes:	47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4705 Literary studies > 470502 Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1302 Communication > 130203 Literature @ 100%
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