David Foster, The Glade within the Grove

Narelle Shaw

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 9.1.1: Australian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Susan Kossew (Monash University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1996

Places

Australia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Foster's most ambitious novel

The Glade within the Grove

is a “

Saga

” or “an epic-like narrative” (xxxiv). It begins conventionally,

in medias res

, in the midst of things, in 1968, the year of international revolutionary activity, before backtracking to the beginning, the Big Bang, the moment of the universe's creation. It is mythic, dealing with the gods and heroes of western culture. In particular, it defines the Australian ethos. In “My Blue Heaven”, the essay which anticipates the

Glade

, Foster insists “our flora, our landscape, are unique, and so are we” (68). He exhorts Australians to love this country and its indigenous daemon, specifically tree spirits. The

Glade

's mythic function is related to its epic form. The transmission of myth, and thus a culture's retention…

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1975 words

Citation: Shaw, Narelle. "The Glade within the Grove". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 May 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=784, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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