Struan 1962 - Adm.monash.edu.au

Now that we have wandered from fiction , this seems a good place todraw attention to two of the best books on Au str alia by "outsiders".Cobbers, by Th om as Wood , is a first-rate piece of shrewd ob servation ofthis country, and Hartley Gratt an 's Introducing Australia has becom e astandard reference boo k. R eaders of Professor Murdoch 's Answers to Correspondentswill need no urgin g to sample him in bigger doses in CollectedEssays, Lucid Intervals and Seventy-two Essays. In my book, DouglasPri ngle's Australian Accent is the best analysis of the Australian scene everwritten.There are dozens of other Au stralian writ ers worth readin g, but my allottedspan is ending. M. Barn ard Elde rshaw, Mil es Franklin, Mary Mit chell, EveLangley, Robert Close, Norman L indsay, T om Collins and others are notmentioned because the writer doesn't kno w them or doesn't lik e them. Fora discussion of contempor ary writ ers, Enid Moodi e Heddle's book , AustralianLiterature Now is the best short survey.To sum up : if you want to rea d no more than six Au stralian books, theseare the ones:The Fortunes of Richard MahoneyRiders in the Chariot.Australian Accent.They're a Weird Mob.The Moving Image - Judith Wright .Henry's Lawsons' Short Stories.STRUAN: 1962Page Flfty.Five