[by William Leonard]
Australian literature has a fairly focused set of topics that make it to the canon including democracy, aboriginality, the complexities of life and the act of living in the wild bush. Famous works include Marcus Clarke’s “For the Term of His Natural Life” which details the imprisonment and transport of a convicted thief while describing the treatment of prisoners for which Australia was known. Miles Franklin’s best known work would be My Brilliant Career, but it was she who would develop Australian literature styles and support so many authors that she would become the namesake for the Miles Franklin Award which is given to the author of a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. Perhaps the most famous by American standards would be Thomas Keneally who wrote Schindler’s Ark, which would be adapted to Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg.
Seeing all this can be daunting, and these are only a few noted authors. Other authors find publication routinely, and finding out about them can be difficult. The Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (hereafter abbreviated to JASAL) is an excellent source for such writings in Australian literature.
First, JASAL is a peer-reviewed journal, published online by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Being an online Journal, one can gain an immediate access to it. The committee that oversees and edits these works is an extensive one, which would only be possible via an extensive use of the Internet.
As a direct consequence to the large number of highly specialized and networking of these editors, the journal has attained a very high status, evidenced by the number of awards that it grants each year. These include the A.D. Hope Prize awarded annually for the best paper delivered by a postgraduate student to the ASAL annual conference; the Walter McRae Russell Award for the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject published in the preceding two calendar years; before 1994, it was awarded to a young or unestablished author for an outstanding work of literary scholarship; the Magarey Medal for Biography, a biennial prize for the best published biographical writing by a female author on an Australian subject in the preceding two years, and the A.A. Philips Award, an occasional award for a work or the work of an author which the ASAL executive considers an outstanding contribution to Australian literature or literary studies.
Articles appear as part of an annual numbered volume, though one or more extra Special Issues may be released in the event of many worthy applications being granted to the society, averaging twice a year and rarely more. From 2008, articles in the annual numbered volume will appear on the JASAL website as they are finalized and readied for publication. JASAL welcomes entries based on Australian literature in all varieties. They encourage comparative studies with other forms of literature, and are particularly interested in contributions that challenge received critical reviews positively and contribute to public awareness. JASAL also welcomes review articles of up to 4000 words and responses to previously published material of up to 2000 words.
The lengths vary. In the 2013 issue alone, the first true article (“Joseph Furphy: The Philosopher in the Foundry” by John Barnes) is 17 pages long, the second (“‘Double line to the terminus’: Marriage, sex, romance and Joseph Furphy” by Susan Lever) is only 10 pages, and the last (“Rigby’s Romance: An Adaptation for Performance” by John Derum) is a screenplay at 63 pages. The true commonality seems to be the actual subject matter for the individual edition, with the individual writer able to scribe however much or little he or she wishes.
Either way, it is written in MLA Format, though the screenplay may have been an exception to this due to the nature of it. The only true connecting themes between them seems to be their subjects- all Journals focus on different subjects, changing from year to year for the primary publications, and the Special Issues also have differing subjects, leading to a variety of topics. 1997 focuses on the actual land, and the people who lived there- evidenced even at a glance by such titles as “Music, Poetry and the Natural Environment” by Bruce Clunies Ross, “Ordering Chaos: Nature and Identity Formation” by Richard Rossiter and “The Road to Babi Yar: Anti-Historicism in Recent Australian Fiction” by Trevor Byrne. In 2002, there were very few entries by comparison to 1997 (39 to 6), but this would make it an easier read overall-with far fewer entries and Articles, one can make through it easily by comparison. Articles focus in this issue on the actual literary facets themselves in Australian culture, with titles such as “Australian Writing”, “Deep Ecology” and “Julia Leigh’s The Hunter” by Tony Hughes-d’Aeth, “‘There are French Novels and There are French Novels’”: Charles Reade and “‘Other’ Sources of Marcus Clarke’s His Natural Life” by Ian Henderson, and “Of Dragons and Devils: Chinese-Australian Life Stories” by Wenche Ommundsen. The list grows on with each year.
Overall, this journal is a very useful source for two primary efforts: the discovery of Australian literature in a more modern form, and an examination of the form of these writings. While the full bod of classical readings can be found, said individuals are almost always deceased, whereas this journal has many still alive, if not necessarily young. Informed and cited entries provide an experience educational, though the act of enjoying literature does not necessitate a strictly academic purpose behind any examinations.
English Research Sources 