Parodying Patriarchy: Murray Bail's Eucalyptus and the "Logic" of Domination

Abstract

Murray Bail's small yet impressive fictional oeuvre includes the novels Homesickness, Holden's Performance and Eucalyptus, as well as a collection of short stories. His allegorical works unabashedly draw inspiration from a masculinist Australian literary tradition while simultaneously critiquing what A.A. Phillips referred to as the "self-confident Australianism" that has frequently accompanied this tradition (149). Bail's dissidence is often enacted quite explicitly in his novels via frequent self-reflexive narrative digressions. He compels readers to ponder the nature, purpose and power of language and stories and to consider recurrent national uncertainty as he articulates the tension of identity both on national and individual levels. His most recent publication Eucalyptus, winner of the 1999 Miles Franklin Award for Australian Literature, is both distinctive and defiant and cements Bail's standing as a great Australian parodist.