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[CCBC-Net] Australian books ‹ what does and doesn't translate?
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From: Judith Ridge <judith_ridge>
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:24:52 +1000
I'm sorry more people haven't responded to Mike Shuttleworth's questions regarding images of and ideas about Australia, as received through US media, and how they might challenge or confirm ideas about our country and its culture as depicted in our literature.
Perhaps the reason is that the more overtly "Australian" books don't often get picked up by overseas publishers--by which I mean specifically US and UK publishers. And I'm not talking about Aussie "exotica"--wombats and kangaroos and so on--but books (novels) set in a peculiarly Australian milieu. For example:
Phillip Gwynne's remarkable (but controversial in indigenous Australian communities) "Deadly, Unna?" has had scant recognition outside of Australia. Its content and language is specifically and distinctively Australian, but its deeper themes of masculinity and race relations ought, I think, to be
"translatable". (It was published in Germany, I believe, but that's about the only non-Southern Hemisphere edition I know of.)
Similarly, Julia Lawrinson's "Bye, Beautiful" has not, as far as I know, moved beyond our shores. It also deals with black-white relationships and employs Australian vernacular and cultural references--but it also deals with family dynamics and small town communities that are, I believe, universal.
Ursula Dubosarsky's "The Red Shoe", which has as its backdrop a significant Cold War event in Australian history, has been published in the US, but while it has attracted multiple awards in Australia, has picked up a scant 2 stars in the US.
Some of you might recall an article I published in The Horn Book a few years ago about the collaboration between an Aboriginal and white Australian author, Boori Pryor and Meme McDonald. Again, books with specific Australian settings, concerns and language, but also universal themes of family and of cultural dispossession--books that have not been published outside our territory.
I'd hazard a guess that Australian children would not have too much difficulty--even today--accessing books about North American history and culture (including Native American stories), and Australian kids have always comfortably accommodated international stories and language and cultural references in their reading.
So I do wonder why US publishers do not think that young Americans need or want to read books from a "mirror" culture like our own. My own experiences travelling in the US suggest that you do want to read our stories--but I guess as far as most US publishers go, it's a question of population economics...
Having got that off my chest, let me also celebrate the international success and recognition of fine Aussie writers like Margo Lanagan, Markus Zusak, Garth Nix, Steven Herrick, Melina Marchetta (although--anyone read
"On the Jellicoe Road"? I thought not...) and Jaclyn Moriarty. Perhaps it is to be expected that (white) urban realism and speculative fiction travels better than our more parochial literature.
But we are much more than a sum of our cute and, it must be said, fascinating fauna. So, in the dying days of this topic, does anyone care to respond to Mike's post?
Cheers,
Judith
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:24:52 +1000
I'm sorry more people haven't responded to Mike Shuttleworth's questions regarding images of and ideas about Australia, as received through US media, and how they might challenge or confirm ideas about our country and its culture as depicted in our literature.
Perhaps the reason is that the more overtly "Australian" books don't often get picked up by overseas publishers--by which I mean specifically US and UK publishers. And I'm not talking about Aussie "exotica"--wombats and kangaroos and so on--but books (novels) set in a peculiarly Australian milieu. For example:
Phillip Gwynne's remarkable (but controversial in indigenous Australian communities) "Deadly, Unna?" has had scant recognition outside of Australia. Its content and language is specifically and distinctively Australian, but its deeper themes of masculinity and race relations ought, I think, to be
"translatable". (It was published in Germany, I believe, but that's about the only non-Southern Hemisphere edition I know of.)
Similarly, Julia Lawrinson's "Bye, Beautiful" has not, as far as I know, moved beyond our shores. It also deals with black-white relationships and employs Australian vernacular and cultural references--but it also deals with family dynamics and small town communities that are, I believe, universal.
Ursula Dubosarsky's "The Red Shoe", which has as its backdrop a significant Cold War event in Australian history, has been published in the US, but while it has attracted multiple awards in Australia, has picked up a scant 2 stars in the US.
Some of you might recall an article I published in The Horn Book a few years ago about the collaboration between an Aboriginal and white Australian author, Boori Pryor and Meme McDonald. Again, books with specific Australian settings, concerns and language, but also universal themes of family and of cultural dispossession--books that have not been published outside our territory.
I'd hazard a guess that Australian children would not have too much difficulty--even today--accessing books about North American history and culture (including Native American stories), and Australian kids have always comfortably accommodated international stories and language and cultural references in their reading.
So I do wonder why US publishers do not think that young Americans need or want to read books from a "mirror" culture like our own. My own experiences travelling in the US suggest that you do want to read our stories--but I guess as far as most US publishers go, it's a question of population economics...
Having got that off my chest, let me also celebrate the international success and recognition of fine Aussie writers like Margo Lanagan, Markus Zusak, Garth Nix, Steven Herrick, Melina Marchetta (although--anyone read
"On the Jellicoe Road"? I thought not...) and Jaclyn Moriarty. Perhaps it is to be expected that (white) urban realism and speculative fiction travels better than our more parochial literature.
But we are much more than a sum of our cute and, it must be said, fascinating fauna. So, in the dying days of this topic, does anyone care to respond to Mike's post?
Cheers,
Judith
-- Judith Ridge PO Box 1476 Ashfield NSW 1800 AUSTRALIA 0412 529 694 My blog: http://www.misrule.com.au/s9y/ My website: http://www.misrule.com.au __ Gin isn?t really a drink. It?s more of a mascara thinner. Dylan Moran __Received on Mon 01 Oct 2007 06:24:52 AM CDT
