2021
First Published
4.33
Average Rating
206
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Who can be a larrikin and how is it used politically?The figure of the larrikin goes deep in Australian culture. But who can be a larrikin, and what are its political uses?This brilliant essay looks at Australian politics through the prisms of class, egalitarianism and masculinity. Lech Blaine examines some “top blokes,” with particular focus on Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, but stretching back to Bob Hawke and Kerry Packer. He shows how Morrison brought a cohort of voters over to the Coalition side, “flipping” what was once working-class Labor culture. Blaine weaves his own experiences through the essay as he explores the persona of the Aussie larrikin. What are its hidden contradictions – can a larrikin be female, or Indigenous, say? – and how has it been transformed by an age of affluence and image?
Avg Rating
4.33
Number of Ratings
574
5 STARS
48%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
11%
2 STARS
1%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Lech Blaine
Author · 3 books
Lech Blaine is a writer from Toowoomba, Queensland. His work appears in The Best Australian Essays, Meanjin, The Guardian and The Monthly, among others. His work has been nominated for several prizes and he was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Queensland Writers Fellowship.
