Looking for the History in Literary History: Review of * The Oxford Literary History of Australia
Author(s)
Carter, David
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
1999
Metadata
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Reviewing The Oxford Literary History of Australia is a tricky, discomfiting affair. What do we expect from such histories? Should we expect the latest theoretical developments applied and amplified, or is this where specialist workers in the field turn from addressing their peers to communicate with a general audience? The answer, I think, lies closer to the second alternative. We need to be modest about the History's aims and limits. But reviewing the book for a peer audience, as here, means being tempted to judge it against criteria of theoretical or historical completeness.Reviewing The Oxford Literary History of Australia is a tricky, discomfiting affair. What do we expect from such histories? Should we expect the latest theoretical developments applied and amplified, or is this where specialist workers in the field turn from addressing their peers to communicate with a general audience? The answer, I think, lies closer to the second alternative. We need to be modest about the History's aims and limits. But reviewing the book for a peer audience, as here, means being tempted to judge it against criteria of theoretical or historical completeness.
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Journal Title
Australian Literary Studies
Volume
19
Issue
2
Subject
Literary Studies
Historical Studies