Smyth, Elizabeth (2020) The Farm Novel, Pastoral and Georgic of the Australian Sugar Industry. In: [Presented at ASAL 2020 Virtual]. From: ASAL 2020 Virtual: Reading and Writing Australian Literature, 25 June - 2 July 2020, Online.

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Abstract

Tony Hughes-d’Aeth has recently begun to unravel the origins of the 'farm novel' in Australia. He has also identified farm novels of the Western Australian wheatbelt. This paper explores the fiction of another type of industrial agriculture located on the opposite side of the continent. The Australian sugar industry depends on cultivation of sugarcane on approximately 4000 square kilometres of land, 95 percent of which is situated along the Queensland coast. Since the industry began in the mid-nineteenth century, writers of poetry and prose have shed light on related social issues, culture, politics, and history. In this paper I argue that Jean Devanny’s Cindie: A Chronicle of the Canefields (1946) and John Naish’s The Cruel Field (1962) are two significant farm novels of the Australian sugar industry. Devanny's and Naish’s farm novels are further discussed in terms of the pastoral’s leisure and retreat, acceptance of past events, and city / country contrasts.

Item ID:	82814
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Keywords:	Farm novel, Naish, Devanny, georgic, Australian literature
Related URLs:	https://www.asal.org.au/
Date Deposited:	21 May 2024 01:13
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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