Conference paper
Better half-dead than read? The Mezzomorto cases and their implications for literary culture in the 1930s
Proceedings of the 21st Annual Association for the Study of Australian Literature Conference, pp.80-89
Annual Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) Conference: Australian Literature and the Public Sphere, 21st (Toowoomba, Australia, 03-Jul-1998–07-Jul-1998)
Association for the Study of Australian Literature
1998
Abstract
This article focusses on the two libel cases arising from Brian Penton's review of Vivian Crockett's novel Mezzomorto for the Bulletin in 1934, viewing them as points of entry into Australian literary politics in the 1930s, and as windows on to one of the most enduring and interesting feuds in Australian literary culture, that between P.R. 'Inky' Stephensen, self-styled 'Bunyip Critic,' and Brian Penton, arch exponent of 'destructive criticism' and scourge of parochial pretension. The cases are particularly interesting for what they reveal about the evolving positions of two influential figures in Australian writing of the 1930s and 1940s. They also play in to contemporary debates about the state and status of 'literature' in Australia. And while Penton's biographer Patrick Buckridge avers that the cases did not impact on any of the larger contemporary literary issues (meaning censorship and free speech), a case may be made for the significance of the libel actions in the context of attempts to establish an industrial and cultural presence for a diverse range of Australian writing.
Details
- Title
- Better half-dead than read? The Mezzomorto cases and their implications for literary culture in the 1930s
- Authors
- Ben Goldsmith (Author) - Griffith University
- Contributors
- Alison Bartlett (Editor)Robert Dixon (Editor)Christopher Lee (Editor)
- Publication details
- Proceedings of the 21st Annual Association for the Study of Australian Literature Conference, pp.80-89
- Conference details
- Annual Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) Conference: Australian Literature and the Public Sphere, 21st (Toowoomba, Australia, 03-Jul-1998–07-Jul-1998)
- Publisher
- Association for the Study of Australian Literature
- Date published
- 1998
- ISBN
- 095871214X
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 1998 The Author. The author's accepted version is reproduced here in accordance with the publisher's copyright policy.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451089102621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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