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Exotic travel destination, economic saviour, Source of ancient religions, potentially hostile yet the site for a possible reorientation of our national identity - the very word 'Asia' engages the imagination of contemporary Australians in compelling and often contradictory ways.
But the diverse countries and cultures of Asia have always fascinated Australian literary travellers, from intrepid 19th- century wanderers, through military men and missionaries, journalists and novelists, to the pilgrims, pleasure-seekers and traumatised tourists of today.
This anthology, the first of its kind. contains flights of fancy to Japan in the 1890s and grim reportage from Bangladesh in the 1990s, the disorienting tour of duty in Vietnam in the 60s and blissed-out tripping in India in the 70s - and much more. Comic, tragic, seductive and appalling, these impressions reveal as much about Australian attitudes and anxieties as they do about the East itself...
But the diverse countries and cultures of Asia have always fascinated Australian literary travellers, from intrepid 19th- century wanderers, through military men and missionaries, journalists and novelists, to the pilgrims, pleasure-seekers and traumatised tourists of today.
This anthology, the first of its kind. contains flights of fancy to Japan in the 1890s and grim reportage from Bangladesh in the 1990s, the disorienting tour of duty in Vietnam in the 60s and blissed-out tripping in India in the 70s - and much more. Comic, tragic, seductive and appalling, these impressions reveal as much about Australian attitudes and anxieties as they do about the East itself...