Full of complex ideas, big words and obscure references, this book is nevertheless well worth the effort. Freshness, good humour and quirky insights abound in this exploration of how literature reflects the ways we have made a place for ourselves here.
There are profound cultural differences to consider (sovereigns worn
as cheap earrings and fish hooks worth more than gold coins) and the "blinkered nonsense" and "tired metaphors and contorted syntax" of settler views of the First Peoples.
Some tragi-comic moments of contact are here, as is the propensity of many of us to forge a "culture of forgetting". The "ownership" of land and water resources and the duplicity implied in words like "sovereignty" and "governance" are still a source of conflict and distrust; for this reason alone The Settler's Plot should be required reading for all politicians.
The range of writers Calder refers to is huge - from Fred Manning to Janet Frame.
This isn't an easy read but I recommend it for its timely intrusion into our comfort zones, and hope, probably in vain, our leaders will get a hold of it.
