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Who’s history ?

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Telegraph (London) article by Andrew Graham Dixon, art critic, journalist, (2000)

‘“The historical novel has always been a literary form at war with itself. The very term, implying a fiction somehow grounded in fact — a lie with obscure obligations to the truth — is suggestive of the contradictions of the genre”’ (R.Lee, 2000, quoting Dixon).

Lee, however, countered by reminding his audience that Dixon’s claim can just as easily be said of something contemporary’. He asked his audience

to think of Trainspotting (1996) or Bridget Jones’ Diary (1996). No one think of these two books are true: ‘Yet no-one would bother to read them if they didn’t believe that they were in some way drawn from life.’ Lee claims this may be a ‘contradiction’ but ‘it’s an absolute fundamental — perhaps the absolute fundamental quality of art. Not just fiction, but sculpture, painting, poetry ….all art’. For Lee, in this sense ‘all art is, to use Dixon’s words “at war itself”’. For Lee, ‘It [historical fiction] seeks, at the same time, both accuracy and illusion. It is ludicrous to say this is only a defining characteristic of historical fiction — it’s a defining characteristic of all fiction’

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Dreamtime stories explanation from Gemini AI . History or Understanding of the World

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Dreamtime, also known as the Dreaming or Jukurrpa, is a foundational concept in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, serving as a way to understand the creation of the world, the relationship between people and the land, and the interconnectedness of all living things. It is a rich tapestry of stories, beliefs, and practices passed down through generations, and it’s not a simple history or religion, but rather a way of life. 

Here’s a breakdown of the Dreamtime: 

  • Creation Stories:Dreamtime stories explain how the world, including the natural world, humans, and animals, came to be. These stories often involve Ancestral Beings who shaped the land and created life. 
  • Spiritual and Moral Framework:The Dreamtime provides a framework for understanding the world, how people should interact with it, and the rules and customs that govern Aboriginal society. 
  • Interconnectedness:Dreamtime emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things, including people, the land, and the spirit world. 
  • Cultural and Religious Significance:The Dreamtime is central to Aboriginal spirituality, influencing their beliefs, rituals, and art. 
  • Living History:Dreamtime stories are not static narratives; they are living histories that are constantly being retold and adapted, with new generations adding their own interpretations and stories. 

Key Concepts and Themes: 

  • Ancestral Beings:These are the spiritual entities who are believed to have shaped the land and created life. 
  • Songlines:Paths followed by Ancestral Beings, often representing sacred sites and routes across the land. 
  • Sacred Sites:Locations where powerful Ancestral Beings are believed to have dwelled or performed their creation work. 
  • Kinan:A system of kinship and responsibility that binds people to their community and to the land. 
  • Spirituality:The Dreamtime is deeply intertwined with spirituality, with Aboriginal people believing that their ancestors and spirits are still present in the land. 

In essence, the Dreamtime is not a historical account in the traditional sense, but rather a way of understanding the world and one’s place within it. It is a complex and rich system of beliefs, stories, and practices that have shaped Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. 

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The Jerilderie letter

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https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/ned-kelly-jerilderie-letter

Australian author Peter Carey has said the main lnfluences on his Booker Prize-winning novel True History of the Kelly Gang (2001) were the Jerilderie Letter, Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings, and James Joyce.[48] Carey described Kelly’s voice in the Jerilderie Letter as that of an “avant-garde artist with hardly a comma to his name”, and in writing True History of the Kelly Gang, he aimed to recreate it. Of his first reading of the Jerilderie Letter, Carey said:

Somewhere in the middle Sixties, I first came upon the 56-page letter which Kelly attempted to have printed when the gang robbed the bank in Jerilderie in 1879. It is an extraordinary document, the passionate voice of a man who is writing to explain his life, save his life, his reputation … And all the time there is this original voice – uneducated but intelligent, funny and then angry, and with a line of Irish invective that would have made Paul Keating envious. His language came in a great, furious rush that could not but remind you of far more literary Irish writers.[49]

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The Yield a novel bound in history but in a timeless realm

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Necessity forced English upon Aboriginal people, but English still could not carry the full cultural weight of our intact native languages. It couldn’t even carry a broken one. To tell the story of the people that inhabited 500-acres of land as a metaphor for all Australia I had to break timelines into manageable eras, but I soon realised I couldn’t limit myself to a timeline; to tell the whole story, I had to tell the full story, to tell all the things.

The concept of the Dreaming emphasises the eternal nature of time and of all times existing now. This was the greatest challenge of writing The Yield — how can you show time in different layers on the same, unmoved but changing, piece of land?

I had to show time as conceptual by having no bondage to the years within Poppy’s narrative strand, exact references to dates in the Reverend’s strand — as if everything had fixity — and then show the dance of interpretation for August’s contemporary strand. I had to incorporate elements of magical realism and prop them against cold, hard facts. I was trying to build a novel bound in history but in a timeless realm.