On The Cultural Cringe

Melbourne writer, critic and teacher A.A. Phillips coined the memorable term 'the cultural cringe' to describe an Australian tendency to identify our literature and art as inferior to work produced overseas, particularly in Britain and the United States. Although his famous essay on the cringe was first published more than fifty years ago, it remains a powerful reference point in discussions of the national culture. It is reprinted here with two of Phillips' other essays on Australian culture, and with additional biographical and critical material, including an essay by Ivor Indyk.