Literary Links : Celebrating the Literary Relationship Between Australia and Britain

The literary relationship between Australia and Britain has evolved over the last 200 years from one of total dependence of a colony on its mother country for ideas and affirmation, to one of independence and equal partnership in the creation of literature in English. It is the strength and diversity of this relationship which Literary Links explores.From Dickens to Drabble, from Lawson to Lette-and countless other possible alphabetical pairings- the book ranges across fifteen distinct themes. Here are the words of explorers and utopians, convicts and their gaolers, nation builders, travellers, university students, fledgling and established writers, migrants, expatriates, prize winners, publishers and satirists, and literary visitors. Each of them expresses an opinion or offers an insight: about Australia, its landscape, its cities, and its people, both settlers and indigenous inhabitants; or about Britain, its great capital, London, its society, its weather. The first writer whose work is represented in Literary Links penned his words in the late seventeenth century; the latest examples date from the late twentieth century. The mutual fascination of British writers with Australia and Australian writers with Britain has not abated over that span of centuries, and it continues today.Literary Links allows these participants in the literary relationship to speak for themselves, with their words supported by pictures, many of them from the magnificent collection held by the National Library of Australia, Canberra.Russell, Roslyn is the author of 'Literary Links : Celebrating the Literary Relationship Between Australia and Britain', published 1997 under ISBN 9781864484779 and ISBN 1864484772.