Progressive culture since 1954
Even for those writers of colour who are privileged enough to have had access to university, like myself, the pervasive whiteness of humanities courses within the institutions prove incredibly alienating. Aside from the token week on race that features in many literature courses, classes tend to teach a literary history that barely recognises the contributions of migrants, women and Indigenous authors.
It was supposed to be a funeral on Thursday, but as we canvassed around Battersea, it was unclear what we were supposed to be sad about. We were five deep at every conceivable outpost and doorknocking in council estates half a dozen times during the day (after many more attempts in the weeks leading up to polling day). We were relishing the excitement of a possible end to Third Way politics. Yet the polls were convincing us of the wisdom of taking this moment to mourn the Corbyn campaign. By 10 pm that night, it was clear that the political topography of Britain had completely changed in a way very few had predicted.
To be ‘burnt out’ suggests that one was alight in the first place, when in fact, the six months prior to finally admitting to myself that I was not fit to work were characterised by a marked absence of vitality usually associated with fire. After only four years of teaching, I felt less like a too-short wick end and more like the smoke that trails after: diffuse and aeriform.
This $20,000 prize encourages artists and writers of fiction, poetry and essays to be part of setting a new agenda for Australia. Winning entries will be published in a special Fair Australia supplement in Overland 229, to be launched in Melbourne in early December. Entry is free.
Whether you’re an emerging writer or you’ve been around the traps for a while now, Overland is sure to have an opportunity for you.
The novel has been adapted countless times, with renditions as stage plays, films, comics and television shows. Interestingly, many of these have been produced in Japan, and have starred predominantly Japanese actors. Indeed, the most well-known rendition of xi you ji in Western countries is the Japanese series, Monkey (better known as Monkey Magic), which was subsequently translated into English and distributed throughout the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.
From late April 1938 through to early August, Attorney General Menzies went on a lengthy tour of Europe. His itinerary included Nazi Germany, where the German Foreign Office was placed at his service. In private, as even his friendly biographers have to admit, Menzies regarded Hitler as a political dreamer, a man with many good ideas. In Germany, Menzies met with many Reich identities, including the President of the Reichsbank, the economic fixer significantly responsible for stitching the deals and links that helped put the Nazis in power.
Free or low-cost higher education is a reality in most European countries and in many others worldwide. It is not an unfeasible pipe dream, nor a gross mismanagement of taxpayers’ money. It’s something that developed countries should be able to provide for their citizens. Tertiary education should not just be a place to spit out a workforce as quickly and efficiently as possible, but a place for people to develop, to discover, and to grow into the best versions of themselves.
Ultimately it is the comfort of privilege that blindsides Brian in Little Men. His place within white mediocrity becomes obvious when he cannot fathom someone else earning something, even succeeding, as much as Leonor can in her position, despite being poor. Perhaps he feels that she has ‘cheated the system,’ whereas he has not achieved anything himself, despite his cultural capital, and he is enacting a kind of punitive response. This is where the nuances of race intersect keenly and cruelly across class boundaries.