Finding friendship in early English literature. This project aims to provide extensive new knowledge about the long story of friendship by reconceptualizing the ways in which this bond was lived and imagined in early medieval literature. The project expects to make an innovative contribution to our understanding of this fundamental human relationship through a case study of early English texts. Expected outcomes of this project include an unprecedented comprehensive study of friendship in an ea ....Finding friendship in early English literature. This project aims to provide extensive new knowledge about the long story of friendship by reconceptualizing the ways in which this bond was lived and imagined in early medieval literature. The project expects to make an innovative contribution to our understanding of this fundamental human relationship through a case study of early English texts. Expected outcomes of this project include an unprecedented comprehensive study of friendship in an early medieval society through its writing, and with this develop a model for the engaged humanities. The project offers significant benefit for a range of academic disciplines, and also includes important benefit beyond the academy through engagement with a critical issue in contemporary society. Read moreRead less
Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII. The project will map the little known cultural production by Italian Prisoners of War from 1940 to 1947. By analysing Italian detainees' creativity in Australia and elsewhere in the world, it will develop a new transnational approach to understanding the experience of captivity and of the many interactions between individuals and communities during WWII. The expected outcomes include new cross-cultural knowledge of migration and wartime experiences an ....Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII. The project will map the little known cultural production by Italian Prisoners of War from 1940 to 1947. By analysing Italian detainees' creativity in Australia and elsewhere in the world, it will develop a new transnational approach to understanding the experience of captivity and of the many interactions between individuals and communities during WWII. The expected outcomes include new cross-cultural knowledge of migration and wartime experiences and of the beneficial power of creative action for individuals’ wellbeing, still relevant today as we witness emergency lockdowns and peoples dislocated by wars. International collaboration and digital resources will bring the results beyond an academic audience to public and policymakers alike.
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Romanticism and the Poetics of First World War Literature. This project asks how the poetics of nineteenth-century Romanticism informed the literature of the First World War. We build on recent research into the history of war and Romanticism to challenge the common view that the literature of the First World War marked a radical break with the past. We examine how this literature adapted and re-invented traditions of war literature. We probe critical questions of periodisation and war represent ....Romanticism and the Poetics of First World War Literature. This project asks how the poetics of nineteenth-century Romanticism informed the literature of the First World War. We build on recent research into the history of war and Romanticism to challenge the common view that the literature of the First World War marked a radical break with the past. We examine how this literature adapted and re-invented traditions of war literature. We probe critical questions of periodisation and war representation. The project will help inform understanding of the cultural memory of war in Australia. How we understand our war traditions are of critical importance as the nation undertakes its largest peace-time expansion of the Australian Defence Force (2022-) and redevelops the Australia War Memorial (2019-).Read moreRead less
World Crime Fiction: Making Sense of a Global Genre. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the worldwide popularity of crime fiction by analysing the genre’s engagement with the major global challenges of our time, from climate change to the crisis of democracy. Using data from scholars and fans across all continents, and employing an innovative comparative methodology, it seeks to produce a new framework for analysing the global practice of crime fiction. Outcomes include a deeper u ....World Crime Fiction: Making Sense of a Global Genre. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the worldwide popularity of crime fiction by analysing the genre’s engagement with the major global challenges of our time, from climate change to the crisis of democracy. Using data from scholars and fans across all continents, and employing an innovative comparative methodology, it seeks to produce a new framework for analysing the global practice of crime fiction. Outcomes include a deeper understanding of the capacities of crime fiction to explore the complex relationship between crime, law and justice in various settings. The project will benefit Australia by creating new insights into the unique contribution of Australian, including Indigenous, crime writers to this truly global genre.Read moreRead less
Reading Writing Lives: Publishing & Preserving Australian Literary Archives. In the last decades of the twentieth century, it became possible for Australian writers to have significant careers thanks to the establishment of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. This project will bring to light the correspondence between Australian authors Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower and between Hazzard and US scholar Donald Keene through these years. It will throw light on this h ....Reading Writing Lives: Publishing & Preserving Australian Literary Archives. In the last decades of the twentieth century, it became possible for Australian writers to have significant careers thanks to the establishment of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. This project will bring to light the correspondence between Australian authors Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower and between Hazzard and US scholar Donald Keene through these years. It will throw light on this historical period and how writers’ careers flourished, as it accesses this new information for the first time. It will produce two books of writers' correspondence, two exhibitions of writers' archives and libraries, and several scholarly and public-facing essays to make this new knowledge accessible to a broad audience.Read moreRead less