Essays that Changed Australia: Meanjin 1940 to today

by Esther Anatolitis

Genres: Essays

272 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Angus McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some insightful reflections on the Australian obsession with suburbia, Indigenous place names, and constitutional reform, but on the whole, the prose was dominated by a dry academic register. The best essays were exceptionally researched, while lacking the strong voice I expected from a literary journal.

I hope a rich reader disagrees with me enough to save Meanjin...

[Elie · Rating 2 out of 5]

this terrible, droll, boring, selection of essays was the real reason meanjin was cancelled

[nilab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This essay collection and I have been in an intimate spat for a week now. Some of the essays were brilliant, other were so dull that I spent a good amount of time wondering why they were chosen for this collection at all. That being said, I can appreciate the diverse range of choices along the spectrum of Meanjin’s existence as a journal. Nothing crazier than reading an essay written right at the end of WW2 and then an essay written in 2023 regarding the Palestinian genocide.

My favourites are as follows:
1. Always bet on Black (power) by Chelsea Watego
2. It’s shit to be White by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
3. The act of disappearing by Amy McQuire
4. The Cultural Cringe by Arthur Phillips

[annalyse ⋆˙⟡♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite essays:

1. Reading the Constitution Out Loud – Marcia Langton

2. Always Bet on Black (Power) – Chelsea Watego

3. Migrant Women Writers: Who’s on Whose Margins? – Sneja Gunew

4. Marngrook, Tom Wills and the Continuing Denial of Indigenous History – Jenny Hocking & Nell Reidy

5. The Act of Disappearing – Amy McQuire

6. Heaven and a Hills Hoist: Australian Critics on Suburbia – Tim Rowse

7. The Cultural Cringe – Arthur Phillips

8. A Quarterly of Literature – Clem Christesen

9. Makunschan, Meeanjan, Miganchan, Meanjan, Magandjin – Gaja Kerry Charlton

[Natalia Figueroa Barroso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Birch, Chelsea Watego, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Amy McQuire’s were hands down my favourite essays in this collection, they indeed were essays that changed so-called Australia.