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dc.contributor.authorMcKay, Belinda
dc.contributor.editorBelinda McKay
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T11:33:30Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T11:33:30Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.modified2010-11-02T07:03:59Z
dc.identifier.issn13218166
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/23019
dc.description.abstractFrancis Adams (1862-1893) first published 'The Red Snake' in the Christmas edition of the Brisbane Boomerang on 24 December 1888, and later revised it for inclusion in a collection of his short stories, Australian Life, which was published by Chapman and Hall in London in 1892. Adams's careful selection, arrangement and revision of his stories enable Australian Life to work effectively as a retrospective collection for an English audience, but it is illuminating to look at the original versions in their Australian context. 'The Red Snake', which Adams chose to open Australian Life, is an enigmatic text. The original version makes unequivocal references to local people, places and events; in particular, it offers in Frank Melvil, a member of the 'old original colonial school', a thinly veiled representation of the infamous Frank Jardine of Somerset on Cape York Peninsula. However, Adams uses these 'real life' allusions also as a starting point for an exploration of larger questions of civilisation and modernity. The story recounts a brutal massacre, but makes no direct judgment of Melvil's actions. There is a pervasive motif of homoerotic attraction, but the text's signification of such desire is evasive in the manner of other fin de si裬e texts. Technically, the story is innovative in the complexity of its first person narration, its interest in the fleeting moment, its anticipation of 'stream of consciousness' and its lack of closure. 'The Red Snake' holds up a mirror to colonial Queensland, but is also worth resurrecting as a fine early example of the modern short story.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.format.extent283445 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherUniversity of Queensland Press
dc.publisher.placeAustralia
dc.publisher.urihttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/queensland-review/article/narrating-colonial-queensland-francis-adams-frank-jardine-and-the-red-snake/DE0D5D30068A9C9E8BBA9F1ADCD39BE2
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom97
dc.relation.ispartofpageto109
dc.relation.ispartofissue1
dc.relation.ispartofjournalQueensland Review
dc.relation.ispartofvolume15
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchHistorical Studies
dc.subject.fieldofresearchOther History and Archaeology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchHistory and Philosophy of Specific Fields
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode2103
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode2199
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode2202
dc.titleNarrating Colonial Queensland: Francis Adams, Frank Jardine and 'The Red Snake'
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyArts, Education & Law Group, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences
gro.rights.copyright© 2008 University of Queensland Press. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
gro.date.issued2008
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorMcKay, Belinda J.


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