YORK HANDBOOKS form a companion series to York Notes and are designed to meet the wider needs of students of English and related fields. Each volu... me is a compact study of a given subject area, written by an authority with experience in communicating the essential ideas to students of all levels. AN INTRODUCTION TO AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE chronicles the nation's literary development from the time of the early European settlers to the present day. It serveys the remarkably divers range of...

YORK HANDBOOKS form a companion series to York Notes and are designed to meet the wider needs of students of English and related fields. Each volu... me is a compact study of a given subject area, written by an authority with experience in communicating the essential ideas to students of all levels. AN INTRODUCTION TO AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE chronicles the nation's literary development from the time of the early European settlers to the present day. It serveys the remarkably divers range of writers that australia has produced over the past two hundred years, exploring their lives, works and sources of literary inspiration, and looking in particular detail at the major figures of each generation. at the same time it seeks to place each generation's achievement in the broader context of Australia's historical and cultural evolution, and to highlight those aspects of the Australian's experience of Australia that have become recurrent themes in its literature. The result is a guide that provides an overview of individual writers and of a national culture, and that will encourage the reader to explore the literary heritage with new insight.