Moving Images and Rooted Sisters: Women’s Poetry in Postwar Australia
This project investigates the rise and legitimation of women's poetry in Australia following World War II. Following on from my earlier book, Stressing the Modern: Cultural Politics in Australian Women's Poetry (Salt Publishing, 2007), this project documents the shift within a predominantly masculine poetic field to accommodate and consecrate a few key women poets like Judith Wright and Rosemary Dobson mid-century. I then investigate the phenomena of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's success, her significance in the history of indigenous poetry, her relationship with Wright, and her various shifts in genre and forms. I then examine the New Australian poetry formation and the women's movement as enabling the emergence of a new generation of women's poets and the subsequent rise of “women's poetry”. The project will consider processes of mentorship, collaboration, communal allegiance and rivalry, editing, publishing, and critical reception. It makes use of extensive archival material and interviews.