Published 15 June 2016
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The Meanjin winter issue takes on the culture wars. It’s an essential primer in this election season written by Melbourne academic Mark Davis, the man who brought you Gangland, the book that revealed the baby boomer cultural monopoly. Now Davis turns his attention to the shady world of cultural politics, a world dominated by race, climate, and irrational fear. Why does our public debate keep retreating to the familiar tropes of the culture wars, and why does this conversation feature so many recurring themes and characters?
Elsewhere in the issue, Clive James muses on writing, death and epitaphs ahead of the publication of his Collected Poems. Jenny Hocking traces the profound links between Australian Rules football and the Indigenous Australian game of Marngrook, while Robyn Annear marvels at her mother’s hair. There’s a critical essay on a favourite piece of fiction from Anna Funder, and a serious piece of research…
Meanjin Papers
AT WAR WITH OURSELVES
Mark Davis
Up Front
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
Katharine Murphy
SEXUALLY HARASSED ON THE WAY TO A FEMINIST CONFERENCE
Alyx Gorman
MEDIA AND DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA
Osman Faruqi
THE ONLY AUSTRALIAN IN BALI
Matthew Clayfield
Essays
AUSTRALIA IN THREE BOOKS
Anita Heiss
RHYMING GENTLY INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
Clive James
THE VANISHING POINT
Carl Reinecke
IMMIGRATION, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND AUSTRALIA
Denis Muller
THE HARD CONVERSATION
Ian Anderson and Glyn Davis
MARNGROOK, TOM WILLS AND THE CONTINUING DENIAL OF INDIGENOUS HISTORY
Jenny Hocking and Nell Reidy
WHAT IRISH CATHOLICS DID FOR AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY
Gerard Henderson
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A PISSING DOG
Jenny Sinclair
POLITICAL ANIMALS
Mark Triffitt
FOUR QUARTERS
Damon Young and Lily Mae Martin
WHAT I OWE
Anna Funder
POETS ON PORCHES DRINKING TEA
Louise Carter talks to Luke Davies
SIMON STONE’S THE DAUGHTER
Peter Craven
Memoir
OUR LUCKY COUNTRY
Melanie Cheng
PERMANENT WAVE: MY MOTHER’S HAIR
Robyn Annear
Fiction
PORCH LIGHT
Alice Bishop
A REVIEW OF OVER THERE BY STANISLAUS NGUYEN
Michael McGirr
THE VOICE
Eva Bujalka
DAYS OF YIELDING
Ben Walter
FROM THEIR BRILLIANT CAREERS
Ryan O’Neill
Poetry
EBON CANS
Stuart Barnes
NOT LONG NOW
David Mortimer
AT THE WESTERN STATION
Andrew Stuckgold
COLLECTING BOTTLES
Glenn McPherson
FAITH, OR THE MEMORY OF RAIN
Anne Elvey
HOUSE GUEST
Meredith Pitt
FLIGHT
James Gering
YOU’VE WALKED OUT ON THE TONGUE OF A VALLEY’S ENORMOUS MOUTH
Stuart Cooke
BRUISE
Charles Freyberg
OPERATIONAL MATTERS
Andrew Stuckgold
RUSA
Eileen Chong
THREAD
Todd Turner
FROM THE TU FU VARIATIONS NORTH
Greg McLaren
SAGE-BRUSH SENTINELS
Paul Scully
SWEAT
Geoff Page
PRESSED METAL
David Mortimer
LISTENING TO CALLAS SING BELLINI AT LA SCALA, 1952
Charles Freyberg
KNOWLEDGE
David Mortimer
THE RENOVATION
Geoff Page
UNSETTLED IN CHELTENHAM: OCTOBER 16TH
David Mortimer
GREAT GULL
Sarah Holland-Batt
ROSEATE SPOONBILL
Sarah Holland-Batt
