Frank Moorhouse: A Retrospective

Abstract

Today,   publication in the United States represents for probably most Australian   writers, and readers, the same kind of recognition that publication in   England did for so long in the past. Until toward the end of the nineteenth   century, when the establishment of local presses coincided with conscious   effort to develop a native literature, London or Edinburgh offered the   Australian writer virtually the only chance of publication. A consequence of   this cultural colonialism for this century has been a tendency to distinguish   between 'characteristically' Australian writing published locally and the   more 'international' writing by Australians published elsewhere-even though   this has often been confused by consideration of the writers' country of   birth or residence, their concerns, and the continuance from last century of   the debate over the appropriateness of absolute 'universal' or relative   'local' critical criteria.