Paperbark: A Collection of Black Australian Writings

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Representing a wide variety of genres, this collection brings together work from the mid-19th century to the present, including stories by "the first Aboriginal 'writer,' " David Unaipon, born in 1862. Although much here is interesting merely by virtue of most readers' ignorance of the existence of aboriginal literature, many of the stories, poems and songs in this volume are facile and dull. The longest piece, "Struggling," is by far one of the weakest. Written by Mudrooroo Narogin, it tells the artless, repetitive story of a young aborigine man, embittered at not being able to plug into the white man's system yet reluctant to bond with fellow blacks to make life better for himself and his people. Many of these pieces deal uncompromisingly with the usurpation of aborigine land, first by the British, and then by white Australians, but generally, the writers' ideas are underdeveloped. The most compelling pieces are the political petitions and letters stating the hopes, dreams and demands of aborigines for the return of their lands and rights. Most of the work is disconcertingly undated. Illustrated.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.