Novel set in northern Australia; Aboriginal word list.

This ground-breaking first biography explores the contradictions at the core of Xavier Herbert's turbulent life and career (1901-1984). Charting his lifelong quest to discover the reality of his existence and to forge a larger-than-life identity, it highlights Herbert's compulsion to write and illuminates his abiding themes. Labelled at various times "ratbag" and "mug genius" as well as "master writer", Xavier Herbert led a life characterised by controversy and contradiction. His signature books, Capricornia (1938) and Poor Fellow My country (1975), were to change the face of Australian novel writing.

Not everything that can be said in one language can be said in another. The lexicons of different languages seem to suggest different conceptual universes. Investigating cultures from a universal, language-independent perspective, this book rejects analytical tools derived from the English language and Anglo culture and proposes instead a "natural semantic metalanguage" formulated in English words but based on lexical universals. The outcome of two and a half decades of research, the metalanguage is made up of universal semantic primitives in terms of which all meanings--including the most culture-specific ones--can be described and compared in a precise and illuminating way. Integrating insights from linguistics, cultural anthropology, and cognitive psychology, and written in simple, non-technical language, Semantics, Culture, and Cognition is accessible not only to scholars and students, but also to the general reader interested in semantics and the relationship between language and culture.

This collection ranges far and wide, as befits the personality and accomplishments of the dedicatee, Geoffrey V. Davis, German studies and exile literature scholar, postcolonialist (if there are ‘specialties’, then Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, Black Britain), journal and book series editor.... The volume opens with essays on cultural theory and practice, proceeds to close analyses of ‘settler colony’ texts from Canada, India, Australia, and New Zealand (drama, fiction, and poetry) as well as Pacific drama and Canadian indigeneity, thence ‘homeward’ to the UK (black drama, Scottish fiction, the music of Morrissey) and to German themes (exile literature; fictions about Hitler). Because Geoff’s commitment to literature has always been ‘hands-on’, the book closes with a selection of poems and experimental prose. Writers discussed include Carmen Aguirre, Hany Abu-Assad, Beryl Bainbridge, Albert Belz, Peter Bland, Peter Carey, Lynda Chanwai–Earle, Kamala Das, Robert Drewe, Éric Emmanuel–Schmitt, Toa Fraser, Stephen Fry, Dianna Fuemana, Mavis Gallant, Alasdair Gray, Xavier Her¬bert, Janette Turner Hospital, Elizabeth Jolley, Wendy Lill, Varanasi Nagalakshmi, Arundhati Roy, Daniel Sloate, Drew Hayden Taylor, Jane Urquhart, Roy Williams, and Arnold Zweig.

Goldie skillfully reveals the ambivalence of white writers to indigenous culture through an examination of the stereotyping involved in the creation of the image of the "Other." The treacherous "redskin" and the "Indian maiden," embodiments of violence and sex, also evoke emotional signs of fear and temptation, of white repulsion from and attraction to the indigene and the land. Goldie suggests that white culture, deeply attracted to the impossible idea of becoming indigenous, either rejects native land claims and denies recognition of the original indigenes, or incorporates these claims into white assertions of native status. After comparing the works of Canadian author Rudy Wiebe and Australian author Patrick White, Goldie concludes by linking the results of his literary analysis to wider cultural concerns, particularly land rights. He shows that literary views of natives, both positive and negative, emphasize the same charac-teristics and he suggests that escape from this limited vision may open the door to solving the problems of native sovereignty.

Buckle up! This is a refreshing, exciting, challenging, fun ride. Under the license of outside-the-box thinking, the writer has given believable practical alternative answers to most of Australias current challenges. The overriding intention is to promote outside-the-box thinking, so provoking discussion and debateindeed, any reaction that might facilitate our journey to the next level. Beginning with the creation of a respectful republic; a new flag; a sensitive, inclusive constitution; and a renewed political system. Addressing the taxation dilemma and offering universal fair retirement and healthcare. Solving the energy, water, and climate change challenges and making a proud place for our First Nation people. Advocating an Australia coming of age on the world stage, putting Australia first in the eyes of all. Then encouraging universal outside the box thinking by touching on other fundamental often contentious issues. No subject is Taboo Outside-the-Box.

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.