Wiradjuri woman, Anita Heiss, is arguably one of the first Aboriginal Australian authors of popular fiction. A focus on the political characterises her chick lit; and her identity as an author is both supplemented and complemented by her roles as an academic, activist and public intellectual. Heiss has discussed genre as a means of targeting audiences that may be less engaged with Indigenous affairs, and positions her novels as educative but not didactic. Her readership is constituted by committed readers of romance and chick lit as well as politically engaged readers that are attracted to Heiss' dual authorial persona; and, both groups bring radically distinct expectations to bear on these texts. Through analysis of online reviews and surveys conducted with users of the book reviewing website Goodreads, I complicate the understanding of genre as a cogent interpretative frame, and deploy this discussion to explore the social significance of Heiss' literature.
By:
Fiannuala Morgan (Australian National University Canberra) Imprint: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 178mm,
Width: 126mm,
Spine: 6mm
Weight: 110g ISBN:9781108747691 ISBN 10: 1108747698 Series:Elements in Publishing and Book Culture Pages: 75 Publication Date:11 February 2021 Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
