Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Indigenous texts and narratives
- 2 Colonial writers and readers
- 3 Poetry from the 1890s to 1970
- 4 Fiction from 1900 to 1970
- 5 Theatre from 1788 to the 1960s
- 6 Contemporary poetry
- 7 New narrations
- 8 New stages
- 9 From biography to autobiography
- 10 Critics, writers, intellectuals
- Further reading
- Index
1 - Indigenous texts and narratives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Indigenous texts and narratives
- 2 Colonial writers and readers
- 3 Poetry from the 1890s to 1970
- 4 Fiction from 1900 to 1970
- 5 Theatre from 1788 to the 1960s
- 6 Contemporary poetry
- 7 New narrations
- 8 New stages
- 9 From biography to autobiography
- 10 Critics, writers, intellectuals
- Further reading
- Index
Summary
FROM THE BEGINNING: ORAL TRADITIONS
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia have been telling stories since time immemorial. Although Indigenous oral cultures were once believed to be dying out, it is clear today, in Australia and elsewhere, that many aspects of these ancient cultures have survived in Indigenous communities, and are now thriving as a living, evolving part of contemporary life. Oral songs and narratives are traditionally an embodied and emplaced form of knowledge. Information is stored in people's minds in various narrative forms which, at the appropriate time, are transmitted from the mouths of the older generation to the ears of the young. Many narratives are connected to specific sites, and are transmitted in the course of people's movements through their country. Certain songs and stories are only transmitted in specific ceremonial contexts, while others circulate in the informal settings of everyday life. For oral traditions to survive, then, “the learning generation” must be in direct physical proximity to “the teaching generation”. People must also have access to significant sites in their country, and be free to perform their ceremonies, speak their languages, and carry out their everyday cultural activities.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature , pp. 19 - 49Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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