Journal article
'Irrigorous uncertainties': writing, politics and pedagogy
Text, Vol.9(1)
04/2005
Metrics
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Abstract
For some time now, as a writer, I have thought, written and spoken of myself as coming from an Australian feminist experimental tradition, of writing as the substantive part of my political activity, and of all writing as political.
I situate myself in an Australian feminist experimental tradition because my particular formation as a writer included the critical influence of the Sydney Women Writers Workshop, even though I was a member for only a relatively brief period, approximately two years between 1979 and 1981. (In Australia, other influences, besides feminism, on the development of experimentation in writing have included working-class consciousness, multiculturalism, postmodernism and cyberspace.) While I was a member of the Workshop, the predominant form being worked on was short prose. To put it crudely, the genre of the novel was regarded then as monumental and patriarchal, and short prose could have multiple and diverse identities when incarnated variously as a prose poem, fragment, vignette, short story or essay. Not all members wrote experimental fiction, but the politics of the group was feminist, and the group had a radical critique of the industry context of their creative work. In discussions of their writing, they considered their experiences as women, and they engaged in alternative publishing strategies, self-publishing three anthologies funded by holding public performances of their work. They self-published in order to control and demystify the publishing process and 'to circumvent the discrimination against women in publishing' pervasive at that time (Sydney Women Writers Workshop 1981).
Details
- Title
- 'Irrigorous uncertainties': writing, politics and pedagogy
- Creators
- Moya Costello - University of Adelaide
- Publication Details
- Text, Vol.9(1)
- Publisher
- Australian Association of Writing Programs
- Identifiers
- 1005; 991012822294102368
- Academic Unit
- School of Arts and Social Sciences; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article