Gerd Dose Knihy

Australia: Making Space Meaningful presents a selection of papers dealing with the construction of meaning in relation to Australian space. The papers were originally given during the 9th biennial conference of the Gesellschaft für Australienstudien or Association for Australian Studies (GASt). Approaches to space from a historical, political and literary perspective, questions of the displaced and their spaces, of female appropriation of space, of colonising space, past and present, of differences between German and Australian spaces and the connection between landscape and works of art by black and white artists were given a platform for discussion during this conference.

This volume breaks new ground in the field of postcolonial studies. It deconstructs a self-sufficient "Anglo-Australian" national identity, shedding light on the intense and sustained efforts of Australian writers to help Australia define itself. Australians' self-definition as a post-colonial and multicultural society stands opposed to the traditional view of predominantly "white" British origins, and a society aiming at cultural homogeneity. The book also focuses on the unique experience of Australian landscape and nature, a major subject of Australian writing since the nineteenth century and a theme that has never lost it topicality and irresistible appeal. Writing in Australia is a must for anyone embarking on this new terrain in literary study.

Hauptziel der Arbeit ist der Nachweis, dass die Beurteilung dergesellschaftlichen Rolle des Adels neben der ähnlich ansetzenden Kritik an Kirche und Klerus die Grundlage der Diagnose der «diseases of the body politic» in der humanistischen englischen Reformliteratur darstellt. Gleichzeitig soll gezeigt werden, wie die humanistische Reformliteratur den gedanklichen Fundus der mittelalterlichen Adelskritik übernimmt, dabei jedoch abstrakt moralisierende Maximen in quasisoziologische Kategorien transformiert.