Author: Alison Broinowski

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 9780195539219

Australians are often told that they should know more about Asia. They are urged to learn Asian languages, study Asian cultures, and adapt to Asian business practices. Yet it is often those doing the admonishing who know the least, and those they exhort to 'come to terms' with Asian countries who know the most. Much interaction takes place between Australians and Asians at an individual, not national, level. Throughout Australian history, more Australians have been attracted to Asia thanis usually recognised. Some sought to understand Asian traditions, some looked for new lifestyles, while others found stimulating sources of modernity. Mant projected their impressions through the arts. but the major cultural histories ignored them, or overlooked the Asian element in their work. Until well after the Pacific War, many Australian perceptions of Asia were still coloured by prejudice and fear. The Yellow Lady, a landmark study, is the first Australian cultural history thatdoesn't neglect Asia. It surveys the work of novelists, sculptors, film makers, composers, architects, poets, potters, playwrights, photographers and choreographers, and is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand Australia and its place in the Asia-Pacific hemisphere. This completely revised and expanded edition of The Yellow Lady contains material focusing on Australian-Asian hybridity in Literature, theatre and the visual arts. It carries the Australian experience of Asia forwardthrough the 1990s and considers the 'Asianisation' of urban Australian culture. Far from their isolationism of earlier decades, Australians at the end of the century are creating a hybrid culture that had no counterpart anywhere else.