The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the De-sacralisation of the Nation

Abstract

Richard Flanagan’s novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North represents yet another addition to the catalogue of Australian war experience literature. The awards and accompanying praise the novel has earned since its release in 2013 reflect a widespread appreciation of its ability to reimagine Australia in a saturated terrain. Flanagan’s novel can be read as a critique of the rise of militant nationalism emerging in the wake of Australia’s backing of Bush’s ‘war on terror’ and the idea that the arrival of boat refugees requires a military and militant response. This article discusses how the novel’s shift from battle heroics to the ordeal of POWs in the Thai jungle represents a reimagining – away from the preoccupation with epic battles – but not necessarily a challenge to the overriding emphasis on baptism of fire narratives as the only truly national narratives.

DOI: 10.17456/SIMPLE-45

Bibliography

Bhabha, Homi. 1990. Nation and Narration. London: Routledge.

Bowden, Timothy. 1998. Northern Exposure. Becoming Australia. Richard Nile & Michael Peterson eds. St. Lucia (QLD): University of Queensland Press, 149-154.

Garton, Stephen. 1998. War and Masculinity in Twentieth-century Australia. Journal of Australian Studies, 22, 56, 86-95.

Hage, Ghassan. 2003. Against Paranoid Nationalism: Searching for Hope in a Shrinking Society. Sydney (NSW): Pluto Press.

Inglis, K. S. 2008 [1998]. Sacred Places. War Memorials in the Australian Landscape. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Jensen, Lars. 2005. Unsettling Australia. Readings in Australian Cultural History. New Delhi: Atlantic Books.

Jensen, Lars. 2014. Giving Diggers a Rest, or Resurrecting Them? (Under) Mining the Australian National Narrative. Australian Cultural Studies, 1: 118-133.

Johnston, George. 1967 [1964]. My Brother Jack. London: Fontana Books.

Kurosawa, Akira. 1990. Dreams. Warner Brothers.

Lake, Marilyn & Henry Reynolds eds. 2010. What’s Wrong with Anzac? The Militarisation of Australian History. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

Seymour, Alan. 1958. The One Day of the Year. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

Taylor, William. 2005. Lest We Forget: The Shrine of Remembrance, Its Redevelopment and the Heritage of Descent. Fabrications, 15, 2: 95-111.

White, Richard. 1981. Inventing Australia. Images and Identity, 1688-1980. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/richardflanagan (consulted on 1/07/2016)