Nation, Memory, Myth

In Nation, Memory, Myth, Steve Vizard brings an original perspective to the foundational myth of Gallipoli as a sacred bearer of Australian national values and identity. In this scrupulously researched close reading of the Gallipoli mythology, Vizard dissects the elements common to all national myths that transform them into compelling symbolic, performances of cultural memory and kinship, unpicking the tensions and explaining the ambiguities embodied within.

Nation, Memory, Myth offers the reader a challenging new look at the extraordinary vitality of myth as a unifying force that generates meaning for a nation and its citizens. Only by understanding myth's evolution across time and by disentangling it from history, memory and forgetting, can we begin to sense what an Australia in the twenty-first century may mean.

'Whether you are an Anzacophile or an Anzacophobe, Steve Vizard has provided a fascinating framework for understanding Anzac's imaginative stronghold over the Australian nation.'
Clare Wright

'A tour de force of narrative synthesis, an utter joy to read ... Professor Vizard leaps into the foundational myth of the Anzac and leads his readers through a complex, tumultuous reading of the Gallipoli narrative to ask: what is this thing, this Australia? Lucid, engaging, rigorous, compelling. Simply excellent.'
Ian Maxwell

'As a political and military event Gallipoli might well have been absurd. Vizard shows that it is only as a myth that it achieves a grandeur which endures.'
Thomas Kenneally




'An outstanding academic achievement.'
Gerard Bouchard, Emeritus Professor, the University of Quebec

'Vizard's insights around the performance of the myth and the Anzac Spirit are as cogent as they are inspiring.'
Anne Pender, Kidman Chair in Australian Studies and Director, JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Writing, the University of Adelaide

'Insightful, challenging and always engaging.'
Bruce Scates, Professor of History, Australian National University

'A special feature of this book is the impartiality of its perspective.'
Geoffrey Robertson, AO KC

'Steve Vizard reminds us we should never forget the myth of Gallipoli, the heroism, sacrifice, stoicism ... But it was a textbook on disaster.'
Hon Barry Jones AC

'Vizard lifts the curtain on the sacralised dramaturgy at the heart of a national ethos.'
Chris McAuliffe, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University