![]() Tarena’s mother and uncle believe that their father Kit made the carving for their mother Francesca, and as it was neither sold nor given away, it is rightfully theirs. ![]() Although Tarena has just completed her final law exams, Tarena’s mother urges her to investigate the ownership of a butterfly carved from pearl shell and turned into a brooch. The narrator of Butterfly Song, a young Murri named Tarena, attends a ‘tombstone unveiling’ on Thursday Island. Australian writing is similarly difficult to define but is distinguished by freshness, a dry sense of humour and an understated anti-authoritarianism. ![]() The novels demonstrate that while there are some common Australian traits, there is no one way to look, sound and behave as an Australian. ![]() The central characters in Terri Janke’s Butterfly Song and Hsu-Ming Teo’s Behind the Moon are young people exploring their identities within a diverse and dynamic Australian society. Literary voice expresses social mores, represents characters and creates a space and language for dialogue between subcultures. ![]() Butterfly Song, Terri Janke, Penguin 2004, ISBN 0-14-300262-7, rrp $22.95īehind the Moon, Hsu-Ming Teo, Allen and Unwin 2005, ISBN 1-74114-243-1, rrp $22.95īy emphasising cultural distinctiveness, recent novels by two young female authors advance the development of an Australian ‘voice’. ![]()
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