TITLE: The Fictional Man: Ned Kelly in Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang in Comparison with Older Portrayals AUTHOR: Adam Prentis DEPARTMENT: Department of English Language and Literature SUPERVISOR: PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The thesis concerns itself with the analysis of various personality aspects of the protagonist of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) - Ned Kelly. Albeit a historical figure, Ned Kelly is approached as a fictional character with focus placed on his symbolic status of Australian nationality, myth and manhood, and on the literary means that point to this. The separate aspects are placed in an evolutionary context through comparisons with older portrayals of the same character - in Max Brown's Australian Son (1948) and J. J. Kenneally's The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and their Pursuers (1929), all of which use a heroising approach to the man. The work shows that Ned Kelly may be perceived in many complex ways, with further possibilities for analysis suggested. Comparing the three books, it is found that although considerable unifying tendencies and moments exist, some aspects have a significant difference in focus or emphasis. A shift is noted from a confrontational idealising defence of what is perceived as a historical person to a...

Letters from a Black Snake is a song cycle by living Australian composer, George Palmer. The cycle sets curated excerpts of text taken from letters written or dictated by Australia's most notorious bushranger (bandit) turned folk hero, Edward "Ned" Kelly (1854-1880), creating a cohesive narrative arc that establishes and explores Kelly's character through the precipitating events of his short life, exclusively in his own words. But what happens when the narrator doesn't tell the whole story? Framed as an expositional analysis of Letters from a Black Snake, this dissertation explores the importance of context on the interpretation and reception of this, and narrative song cycles generally, outlining potential approaches to performance, and proposing an expansion of Palmer's work.