I had originally thought that I might provide the full list of entries in Jane Gleeson-White's Australian Classics, but took a minute and decided that was just my geeky penchant for lists coming to the fore. It's a habit I've been trying to break for a while and it seems that the start of a new year is as good a time as any for old habits to be chucked out. Then Margo Lanagan commented on my previous posting here and suggested I not follow a direct linear route through the book's contents but jump around all over the place, following whims as much as any specific pattern. While the contents of the book are not quite in publication order, following the sequence as specified presents a basic Australian literature overview, as well as providing a sense of the development of that literature over time. I'm going to stick with the order as published. I'm not, though, going to tell you which of the contents I've previously read. Firstly, that would be too embarrassing, and secondly, I want to approach these works as if I hadn't seen them before.
So here are the first four entries in Gleeson-White's book (with original publication dates):
Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood (1882/83)
Such is Life by Tom Collins (1903)
"The Sick Stockrider" by Adam Lindsay Gordon (1869)
His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke (1872)
I'll list each month's list as I go. I have started Robbery Under Arms, but a brief technical problem is holding up my first comments about it. That should be fixed later today.
