Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910

Description

How have the Middle Ages shaped Australian culture? Have there been forms of interest in the medieval period that can be identified as Australian? What cultural forces have shaped these local responses? This detailed study examines the many ways in which early Australian writers and dramatists drew on the motifs, events and personages of the medieval past, and places particular emphasis on how they used the European past to illuminate their sense of the Australian present. Lousie D'Arcens investigates the role of medieval studies in the formation of Australian humanities curricula.