Literary Self-Awareness and Parental Love: Challenging Alterity in Contemporary Medieval Studies. Did medieval women write about themselves as gendered individuals? Did medieval parents love their children? Despite both popular and academic opinion to the contrary, this project aims to demonstrate that these propositions are true. By studying the self-aware writings of Latin-literate medieval women and medieval parent-child advice-texts, this project aims to challenge the alterity, or otherness, ....Literary Self-Awareness and Parental Love: Challenging Alterity in Contemporary Medieval Studies. Did medieval women write about themselves as gendered individuals? Did medieval parents love their children? Despite both popular and academic opinion to the contrary, this project aims to demonstrate that these propositions are true. By studying the self-aware writings of Latin-literate medieval women and medieval parent-child advice-texts, this project aims to challenge the alterity, or otherness, of the Middle Ages, a concept which suggests that medieval people are fundamentally unlike us. In doing so, it questions the significance of alterity in the construction and practices of contemporary Medieval Studies and offers insights into possible new methodologies for the discipline.Read moreRead less
Textual Ontogeny and the Understanding of Modernist Texts: A Case Study of Samuel Beckett's Novel, Watt. This research develops smart technology use: by creating a new method of literary editing that is best able to extend the capabilities of electronic text, this project enhances the understanding of modernist literature and the ability to use technology in innovative ways in the humanities. New ways to organise and edit complex networks of data and documentation (in this case extensive archiva ....Textual Ontogeny and the Understanding of Modernist Texts: A Case Study of Samuel Beckett's Novel, Watt. This research develops smart technology use: by creating a new method of literary editing that is best able to extend the capabilities of electronic text, this project enhances the understanding of modernist literature and the ability to use technology in innovative ways in the humanities. New ways to organise and edit complex networks of data and documentation (in this case extensive archival and published material) will be transferable to a wide variety of non-literary applications.Read moreRead less
The child writer: an edition and critical study of Literary Juvenilia. The project will add significantly to the theorization and documentation of children's literary and cultural history. It will contribute to the establishment of Literary Juvenilia in the academy, making it a viable and recognized area of literary research. It will enlarge and alter the critical reception of childhood writings, in particular those of literary professionals. Such a study will also benefit approaches to liter ....The child writer: an edition and critical study of Literary Juvenilia. The project will add significantly to the theorization and documentation of children's literary and cultural history. It will contribute to the establishment of Literary Juvenilia in the academy, making it a viable and recognized area of literary research. It will enlarge and alter the critical reception of childhood writings, in particular those of literary professionals. Such a study will also benefit approaches to literature in schools (the study of juvenilia can be inspiring for young writers); will show-case Australian authors; and, in ranging across national boundaries,will make an innovative contribution to international relations.Read moreRead less
Nuanced recollection and representation: the political and rhetorical strategies of The Peterborough Chronicle. This study will enhance our understanding of essential aspects of historical writing in Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England. The analysis, to be presented in a digital facsimile presentation of this invaluable historical document, will be published in Oxford University's new Bodleian Digital Texts Series. This series, produced at The University of Melbourne with The Bodleian Library ....Nuanced recollection and representation: the political and rhetorical strategies of The Peterborough Chronicle. This study will enhance our understanding of essential aspects of historical writing in Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England. The analysis, to be presented in a digital facsimile presentation of this invaluable historical document, will be published in Oxford University's new Bodleian Digital Texts Series. This series, produced at The University of Melbourne with The Bodleian Library as collaborator, sets the standard internationally for the digital analysis and presentation of materials preserved in manuscript form, and consequently is establishing the University as a centre of excellence for this kind of work.Read moreRead less
The Young Writer in History. The project will add significantly to the theorization and documentation of children's literary and cultural history. It will contribute to the establishment of Literary Juvenilia in the academy, making it a viable and recognized area of literary research. It will enlarge and alter the critical reception of childhood writings, particularly in the nineteenth-century. It has the potential to radically alter the boundaries of Children's Literature. Such a study will a ....The Young Writer in History. The project will add significantly to the theorization and documentation of children's literary and cultural history. It will contribute to the establishment of Literary Juvenilia in the academy, making it a viable and recognized area of literary research. It will enlarge and alter the critical reception of childhood writings, particularly in the nineteenth-century. It has the potential to radically alter the boundaries of Children's Literature. Such a study will also benefit approaches to literature in schools (the study of Juvenilia can be inspiring for young writers); and will showcase Australian scholarship that is taking the lead in innovative research in international literary studies.Read moreRead less
Patrick White in the twenty-first century. Patrick White (1912-1990) is the only Australian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the citation commending him for having 'introduced a new continent into literature'. How did White represent Australia? Analysis of newly-available manuscripts and related material in the National Library will establish fresh perspectives on White's view of his native land, illuminating his writing in relation to national and international literary traditions. ....Patrick White in the twenty-first century. Patrick White (1912-1990) is the only Australian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the citation commending him for having 'introduced a new continent into literature'. How did White represent Australia? Analysis of newly-available manuscripts and related material in the National Library will establish fresh perspectives on White's view of his native land, illuminating his writing in relation to national and international literary traditions. His social and political critique of twentieth-century Australia still confronts readers in the twenty-first century, stimulating debates over such topical issues as national identity, indigeneity, and understanding our national heritage. Read moreRead less
Frank Hurley: The Making of a Modern Cultural Icon. I propose to write a book about Frank Hurley (1885-1962) dealing comprehensively for the first time with his photography, cinematography and writing from the perspective of the new humanities disciplines, and to make an original argument about the significance of his career for modern Australian culture in its international contexts. The book will exemplify a new theory and practice of interdisciplinary research. A second objective is to publis ....Frank Hurley: The Making of a Modern Cultural Icon. I propose to write a book about Frank Hurley (1885-1962) dealing comprehensively for the first time with his photography, cinematography and writing from the perspective of the new humanities disciplines, and to make an original argument about the significance of his career for modern Australian culture in its international contexts. The book will exemplify a new theory and practice of interdisciplinary research. A second objective is to publish an edition of Hurley's diaries. Melbourne University Press have formally expressed interest in both books. The text of the diaries will also be made available on the internet by the Mitchell Library and National Library of Australia. Read moreRead less
Broadening Choice and Increasing Diversity in Public Schools. Currently, most families are limited to the public school in their catchment area, meaning the area in which they can afford to live. This leads to socio-economically and ethnically homogenous schools and entrenches disadvantage, as well as denying students the crucial life lessons that flow from being part of a diverse student body. This project aims to investigate a model for allocating public school places that integrates catchment ....Broadening Choice and Increasing Diversity in Public Schools. Currently, most families are limited to the public school in their catchment area, meaning the area in which they can afford to live. This leads to socio-economically and ethnically homogenous schools and entrenches disadvantage, as well as denying students the crucial life lessons that flow from being part of a diverse student body. This project aims to investigate a model for allocating public school places that integrates catchment areas. The expected outcome would be a system that gives families a wider choice, enabling them to enrol in out-of-area schools, while ensuring that allocations remain fair, equitable and balanced, and also delivering benefits such as achieving a desired level of diversity in student populations within schoolsRead moreRead less
Whiteness: writing, reading, race. The national and community benefits of this project lie in the contribution it will make to the wider work of Australian reconciliation through its analyses of writing as one of the important meeting grounds between white and Aboriginal Australians. By analysing the race relations of writing culture, the project will contribute to the important work of understanding white-Indigenous relations in contemporary postcolonial Australia.
Print Manager: Jonathan Swift and Anglo-Irish Print Culture 1680-1750. In Swift studies Australia has both a leading position and a key group of internationally recognised scholars (David Woolley at Perth, Harold Love at Monash, Ian Higgins at ANU , Robert Phiddian at Flinders, myself at Monash). Monash also has the internationally significant Swift Collection of manuscripts, books and associated material, all of the digital databases and microfilms, and is the leading centre for Swift research ....Print Manager: Jonathan Swift and Anglo-Irish Print Culture 1680-1750. In Swift studies Australia has both a leading position and a key group of internationally recognised scholars (David Woolley at Perth, Harold Love at Monash, Ian Higgins at ANU , Robert Phiddian at Flinders, myself at Monash). Monash also has the internationally significant Swift Collection of manuscripts, books and associated material, all of the digital databases and microfilms, and is the leading centre for Swift research and eighteenth-century literary research in Australia. This project will enhance Australian strength in and contribution to the world-wide study of Swift and his work, deepen Australian awareness of its Anglo-Irish colonial heritage, and reveal new dimensions to its Irish-Australian heritage. Read moreRead less