Meanjin Anthology

This weighty retrospective of Australia’s second oldest literary journal strikes an appropriate balance between poetry and prose as it presents the work of some of the most recognised names in Australian literature since 1940. The organisation of the chapters is chronological, which allows for some efflorescent, at times even jarring, interaction between wildly opposing styles and thematic concerns.   

The section covering the war years offers us a taste of the poetry of Judith Wright in ‘Dust’. There is also a polemical work on mateship from celebrated historian Manning Clark, as well as Vance Palmer. The decade following gives us Arthur Phillips’ pivotal article ‘The Cultural Cringe’, decrying the crippling lack of self-confidence and expansive vision he sees as plaguing writers in the Antipodes; and A.D. Hope’s comprehensive argument supporting the teaching of Australian literature in universities, as a separate stream from its English counterpart. This section also features Hope’s poem ‘Last Look’, and James McAuley’s ‘The Tomb of Heracles’.

From the 60’s, the collection includes David Malouf’s vivid, densely metaphorical poem ‘At My Grandmother’s’, the nostalgic power of which hints at the madeleines in Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu; and Gwen Harwood’s exploration of architecture, the phallus and emergent sexuality in her breathtaking, ‘A Case’. In this section we also find Patrick White’s short story, ‘Being Kind to Titina’, where the reader commutes between Alexandria, Athens and Paris, as the author satirises middle class morays; while in the background of Thomas W. Shapcott’s ‘Shadow of War’, the spectre of Vietnam looms.

Peter Steel’s lyrical ‘King Tide’ marks the beginning of the 70’s section. It is followed by Francis Webb’s didactic, purgatorial lashings in ‘Sturt and the Vultures’, which crackle as ominous warning shots to spiritual barrenness in modern literature. These are joined by two short stories, Peter Carey’s ‘Peeling’ and Carolyn van Langenberg’s ‘Brown Paper Bag’. The section also features Humphrey McQueen’s essay, ‘Queensland: A State of Mind’.     

The 1980’s see the emergence of some exceptional short story writers and novelists, with the inclusion of Beverley Farmer’s ‘Our Lady of the Beehives’ and Gerald Murnane’s ‘Stone Quarry’. We find also Peter Porter’s stinging modernist critique of crude nationalism in his deceitfully titled poem, ‘Essay on Patriotism’. The section closes with work from two of the current pillars of Australian poetry: ‘Dreaming Up Mother’ by Robert Adamson, and Chris Wallace-Crabbe’s muscular dissection of memory processes in ‘Domain Road’.

The 90’s section features short stories from Alexis Wright (‘Requiem for Ivy’) and Elliot Pearlman (‘In the time of Dinosaurs’), as well as Meanjin poetry editor Judith Beveridge’s imperative lyricism in her poem, ‘How to Love Bats’ and Gig Ryan’s monument to a failed relationship in ‘Green Target’. Featured also is Kevin Hart’s poem ‘Membranes’ and short fiction from Hannah Fink.

Alison Croggon’s unsettling portrayal of self-immolation in ‘Suttee’ starts off the chapter on the 2000’s, shocking us into the near present. This is followed by Helen Garner’s polemic piece in defence of autobiographical borrowing and non-fiction in ‘I’. John Tranter’s poem ‘Transatlantic’ serves as one of the very few glimpses we get of writing that is experimental in some sense. Stephen Edgar’s ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ is also included, as is Peter Coghill’s ‘Aubade’.

Hilary McPhee’s essay ‘Timid Minds’ serves as an in memoriam rejoinder to A.A. Phillips’ ‘Cultural Cringe’ and adds a certain symmetry to the anthology. This circular logic seems to have inspired also the inclusion of John Kinsella’s poem ‘Graphology 808: Beetopic or Beetopia?’ His work normally falls under the categorical umbrella of ‘post-pastoral’ and harkens in this way back to the traditional pastoral of the 40’s & 50’s, whilst challenging and extending its legacy.     

In any undertaking of this sort – where the length of time spanned by the contents is enormous and yet the pages limited – there are bound to be some movements or tastes that aren’t adequately represented. This applies to strands of experimental writing in Australian literary history, which are for the most part absent in these pages, although this is largely a reflection of the aesthetic philosophy of the journal rather than any oversight by the thorough editors. It must also be said that – barring a couple of inclusions – there is not a great deal of writing representing Indigenous culture.

Despite this, the anthology serves the canonisation process of mainstream Australian writing rather well, as has the magazine over its lifetime. The coverage of major literary debates – cultural cringe, Australian literary pedagogy, and others – is thorough for an anthology of its size.  

Rating: 4 ½ stars out of 5

Meanjin Anthology

Editor: Sally Heath

Associate editor: Zora Sanders

Poetry Editor: Judith Beveridge

Additional editors: Richard McGregor and Emma Fajgenbaum

Paperback, 400pp, RRP $27.99

ISBN: 9780522861556

Melbourne University Publishing