This essay draws on the work of Raymond Williams in identifying a shift from the attempt to have students engage with literary texts in personal terms to a concern, founded on theoretical innovation, that they should read at a more sophisticated level in order to discern the ideology of a given text. It argues that what Williams calls an…

This paper is prompted by the author's experience as a researcher of English literary education in three different geographies over the past three years: Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Affect theory, as discussed in this paper, concerns atmospheres, surfaces, bodies, emotions, moods, vicinities and capacities. Drawing on affect theory,…

Discusses Patricia Wrightson's development as a writer of children's novels and her unique contributions to Australian literature. Highlights characters and/or primary points of interest in her works, especially her Hans Christian Anderson Medal winner, "A Little Fear." (SD)

Examines the use of imagery and poetic language in the two novels of Christobel Mattingly, an Australian writer of picture story books. Shows that Mattingly deals with sensitive issues of childhood and adolescence, such as moving to a foreign country, teenage sexuality, and death, in subtle and mature ways. (SKC)