Australian Autobiography

Many of the major achievements in Australian Literature since the 1950's have been autobiographies, but only within the last decade has much attention been given to the form. As a literary form, autobiography is rich and varied; it is also culturally revealing. Like its counterpart in the United States, the Australian autobiography is much concerned with ideas about national identity; it frequently presupposes a national type or a typical environment against which the narrator attempts self-definition. This study of Australian autobiography will raise questions about the distinctive concerns and structures of the genre. It will examine recurring myths of 'growing up Australian.'