"The Poetic Thinker"

Judith Wright (1915-2000) was born into a pastoral family near Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Regarded as one of the most renowned twentieth century Australian writers, Wright was the prolific author of numerous poems, essays, criticism and short stories. Believing that the poet should be concerned with social and national problems, Wright was also an uncompromising environmentalist and social activist. She played a match against the current of the times, against environmental destruction, against war, against violations of humanity, and against the erasure of indigenous people from white historical narratives. In a word, she fought against all kinds of social injustices. Conservation, peace, Aboriginal rights and national identity were also central concerns of Wright's literary works. Trapped in the postcolonial dilemma of Australia, Wright proposed that reconciliation was the only way out, with humanism as her standpoint. This dissertation is divided into six parts:Chapter One gives a brief sketch of Judith Wright's life, major works, reputation and the likely sources of her inspiration. Through a comprehensive examination of the literature about Wright and her works, the research perspective of this dissertation has been formulated. Finally, the research significance, methods, contents and innovations are presented.Chapter Two discusses Wright's viewpoints on environment. Wright argued that there was a double aspect in transplanted Europeans'attitude towards Australian land and landscape. According to Wright, Australia was viewed by its new inhabitants either as a land of exile or as a land of hope. To her, the sense of exile contributed to European settlers'view that Australian landscape was monotonous, grey, weird, funereal and hostile. Wright claimed that the new inhabitants should be in peace with their new environment. Her poems eulogize the unique beauty of her beloved Australia and help to change people's perception of their country. Wright argued that due to lack of empathy towards this new land, early settlers wantonly exploited and plundered the country. Confronted with the environmental devastation caused by white Australians, Wright reflected on the root causes for the destruction, and tried to find a way out. Ranging from the conflict between European settlers and the Australian environment, to the clash between mankind and nature, Wright stressed the importance of feeling and empathy to reconcile mankind and environment.Chapter Three examines Wright's viewpoints on society from three parts. The first part discusses her thinking on gender relations by an investigation of her arguments on"women in Australian literature","women writers in Australian society", and the limitation of Australian feminist movement. Wright advocated equality between men and women while transcending the confinement of women's rights. She ultimately defended human rights and rejected subjugation and domination in any kind of relationship. The second part focuses on spiritual satisfaction, sensual love and gestation. To Wright, two reciprocal minds in love can bring happiness and enjoyment instead of misunderstandings and oppositions. Taking possession of the other party is not true love. Having experienced the horrible World War I and World War II, she integrated her anti-war emotions into her poems. In a world filled with violence, she argued that hegemony, radical nationalism, and instrumental intellect have caused devastating effects. Wright believed the modern society was breaking down because of its emphasis on the rational and analytical thought at the expense of intuitive and emotional modes of knowing and being. Over-emphasis on intellect has led to domination by men more concerned with money and power rather than life and love. She felt Australian society and the whole world needed to engage more with their feelings in order to develop in a healthy state.Chapter Four analyses"Judith Wright on Australia as a Nation"through two aspects:"national history"and"national identity". As a descendant of a pioneer family, Wright felt sympathetic toward early white settlers who were battling against the land. More reading and research took her into dark places of Australian history. She began to obsess herself with the submerged population who were denied a place in history, especially the conquered and dispossessed Aboriginals. She found that pastoral migration was actually pastoral invasion. The white settlement involved considerable conflicts and confrontation between the white and the indigenous. To Wright, Europe-descended Australians are always uncertain about their own identity, whether they are Australian Britons or white Australians. Wright noted the split in Australian consciousness and envisaged a people who could make a new kind of consciousness out of Australia's new conditions, with a present to be lived in and a past to nourish them. In order to create a national identity distinct from British identity, radical nationalists set the bushman as the"typical Australian". To her, the bush legend simplifies and idealizes experience, and the nationalist movement leaves behind it a paralysing uniformity. She opposed the White Australia policy, which was in favor of homogeneous national identity. Instead, Wright advocated reconciliation between whites and aboriginals, and demanded the rights of minority groups, with Aboriginals as representatives, be respected and protected.Chapter Five,"Judith Wright on Australian Literature", focuses on Judith Wright as a literary critic. She held that during the past two centuries, immigrants of chiefly European descent had established a precarious"imported"literature in Australia. She wished to combine European literary tradition with the best of what Australia could offer and advocated using one's own background as a basis for writing, while not rejecting European legacy. For her, the benefit of Australian literature's future and development, required both"indigenous values"and"European origins". To Judith Wright,"Australian-ness"is valuable but does not determine the worth of a literary work. Being primarily a poet, Wright made efforts to explore ways for poetry as a genre to survive and flourish. With respect to poetry's essence, function, and its relationship with education, she rejected polarities between intellect and feeling, art and reality. Wright contended that the decline of poetry had accompanied the retreat from imagination and feeling and the increase in intellect and reason. To her, poetry as an expressive piece of art which embodies and conveys feelings, was badly needed in this society.Chapter Six is the conclusion. As a sensitive intellectual and writer, Wright observed and reflected on many of Australia's existing problems. She took advantage of her writing and social activities to reconcile different kinds of relationships, such as the relationships between man and nature, man and woman, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, whites and indigenes, European legacy and environmental values, intellect and intuition, art and reality. While reconciliation is no easy task, she proposed, based on humanism, her own prescriptions for postcolonial problems. After all, it is difficult for intellectuals or writers to solve such political or historical problems. However, her relentless efforts and contributions should not be denied.