Australian Literature

Abstract

Abstract This entry provides an overview of Australian literature and the debates it has generated, with an emphasis on Australian literature's relationship to the postcolonial. It provides a brief history of scholarly definitions of Australian literature, an overview of debates around whether Australian literature should be considered postcolonial, and fuller discussions of Australian literature according to commonly used periodizations: the colonial period (1788–1901), the establishment of Australian as a nation (1901–50), and the postwar and contemporary period (1950–present). It follows the development of poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfictional prose forms, describing the principal preoccupations of Australian writing in these periods, as well as the institutional structures and transnational contexts in which they evolved.

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