posted on 2016-01-01, 00:00authored byBriohny Doyle
No High Rise on Our Street
History
Language
eng
Publication classification
JO4 Original Creative Works – Other
Pagination
5-7
ISSN
1835-5668
Research statement
Background
Strongly written cultural criticism placing Australian literary output in its contemporary context can be a crucial riposte to the 'unremitting ideological war on knowledge, inquiry and, significantly, cultural memory' (Croggon 2016) waged by institutions and governments. In this portfolio, the researcher uses criticism to highlight the way that literature can be an intervention in broader national and international conversations.
Following Lukács on textual practice, the researcher asks: How can literary criticism advocate for and evaluate literary production, including film and theatre, while also intervening in contemporary conceptions of social and political life, and the environment?
In 'No high rise...' she considers J.G Ballard's dystopian novel High Rise and it's 2015 film adaptation in relation to the housing crisis in Australia.
Significance The works in this portfolio appear in nationally or internationally distributed publications. The Guardian Australia is a highly regarded, free online news outlet source connected to the global Guardian brand. As such, their commissioned reviews, profiles and features of Australian books, television and culture are read around the world and represent an important point of intersection between local and global cultural production. The Lifted Brow was a world renowned Australian Literary journal that ran from 2007-2020. This portfolio contains a representative sample of the researcher's regular column of cultural criticism which ran from 2012-2018 alongside contributions from Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Down, and Roxanne Gay.