23 - White Lies

Summary

The millennial novels of Roger McDonald, Kim Scott and Alex Miller negotiate a tension between mythology and philosophy in attempting to progressively address the pernicious neocolonial mythology of the Australian tradition. All three writers have a history of work experience in rural and regional areas outside of their literary careers: one is Australian born of British heritage, another Australian born with Indigenous heritage, the other an English born migrant. Each of them has established a significant oeuvre over the last quarter century, and each has figured consistently in national and State awards. They are writers with a substantial public reputation, who have attracted the attention of the key institutions involved in curating Australian literature, and on occasion they have exceeded those spaces in becoming a topic of conversation within a broader public sphere interested in the character of a nation and the condition of its social contracts. Each of them is also deeply involved in consideration of the Australian tradition and the mythology that has expressed its identity and purpose. In this chapter the point of interest in grouping these specific texts by these specific male writers is to enquire into the extent to which they invoke, rework and displace the neocolonial mythology of the Australian tradition with familiar narratives that nevertheless predispose a wider public to a more open and inclusive accommodation of difference.