In Nation, Memory, Myth, Steve Vizard brings an original perspective to the foundational myth of Gallipoli as a sacred bearer of Australian national values and identity. In this scrupulously researched close reading of the Gallipoli mythology, Vizard dissects the elements common to all national myths that transform them into compelling symbolic, performances of cultural memory and kinship, unpicking the tensions and explaining the ambiguities embodied within.
Nation, Memory, Myth offers the reader a challenging new look at the extraordinary vitality of myth as a unifying force that generates meaning for a nation and its citizens. Only by understanding myth's evolution across time and by disentangling it from history, memory and forgetting, can we begin to sense what an Australia in the twenty-first century may mean.
About the Author :
Steve Vizard is a prizewinning writer, broadcaster, lawyer and research professor at Monash University and the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide. He has written and edited books on topics ranging from Australia's Constitutional Convention to Australia's population challenge and Australian humour. He has helped create, write and produce numerous groundbreaking television shows, including Fast Forward, Big Girls Blouse, The Micallef Program and Seachange, and hosted his own Gold Logie awarded TV show Tonight Live with Steve Vizard.
Review :
'Whether you are an Anzacophile or an Anzacophobe, Steve Vizard has provided a fascinating framework for understanding Anzac's imaginative stronghold over the Australian nation.' - Clare Wright
'A tour de force of narrative synthesis, an utter joy to read ... Professor Vizard leaps into the foundational myth of the Anzac and leads his readers through a complex, tumultuous reading of the Gallipoli narrative to ask: what is this thing, this Australia? Lucid, engaging, rigorous, compelling. Simply excellent.' - Ian Maxwell
'In his engrossing monograph we see why Gallipoli has lasted. Vizard shows that it is only as a myth that it achieves a grandeur which endures.' - Thomas Keneally AO, author, Booker Prize winner
'An outstanding academic achievement.' - Gerard Bouchard, Emeritus Professor, the University of Quebec
'Vizard's insights around the performance of the myth and the Anzac Spirit are as cogent as they are inspiring.' - Anne Pender, Kidman Chair in Australian Studies and Director, JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Writing, the University of Adelaide
'Insightful, challenging and always engaging this book is a major contribution to our understanding of one of Australia's most enduring cultural icons.' - Bruce Scates, Professor of History, Australian National University, author of Return to Gallipoli, A New Australia
'In this beautifully written, scholarly work Steve Vizard explains Gallipoli not as an event but as a story.' - Geoffrey Robertson AO KC, author of Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice
'Nation Memory Myth is a wonderful piece of scholarship. ...extraordinary and compelling, at least in the Ken Inglis class.....A must read book' - Hon Barry Jones AC
'Vizard lifts the curtain on the sacralised dramaturgy at the heart of a national ethos.' - Chris McAuliffe, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University
'Its thorough research and brave perspectives make a valuable contribution to the ongoing conversation about Australian identity' - Books & Publishing
'An incredibly erudite, learned, exhaustively researched work, drawing on a truly impressive range of disciplines... a deep dive into the Gallipoli legend's narrative, performative and above all, mythic structure.' - Professor Stuart Ward
'A publication that offers truth by the bucketload' - New Daily
'A superb, original, and provocative study' - Professor Douglas Newton
'Vizard's bold, provocative and innovative work helps us make sense of the extraordinary vitality of a legendary story.... ...An enthralling bedrock for understanding Anzac's creative obsessions over the Australian nation.' - Rama Gaind, PS News
'This book is incredible. The research is insane. An amazing read. You'll learn to see things a little bit differently.' - The Project, Network Ten
'Breathtakingly good. Powerful, insightful, original, huge in scope, exquisitely written, endlessly thought-provoking. Vizard has produced a work of genuine academic heft.' - Michael Veitch
'An amazing book. Go out and get it.' - Greg Ross, The Last Post Magazine
'One of the most powerful examinations of how Anzac works I've ever encountered. An extraordinarily important reflection on how the story of Gallipoli works' - Professor Frank Bongiorno AM FASSA FAHA, Professor of History, Australian National University
'A fantastically thought-provoking scholarly book. An excellent read.' - Natasha Mitchell, ABC Radio, National, Big Ideas
