The purpose of this project has been to research and write
the novel The Shaded Side and a critical commentary. The
novel is based on the fictitious events that take place in
an Australian tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1940s. The
story locates and reflects the consequences of
relationships, experiences, morals and attitudes of this
early period against the present day story of an adult
adoptee searching for the identity of her birth mother.
Research into the history of TB treatment in
Australia and into broader representations of illness and
disease has been required for the project.
General themes include: sanatorium treatment, wartime
experiences of women of Footscray, the influences of
Catholicism as it was generally practised earlier this
century, adoption and the mechanics of searching for one's
birth relatives.
The critical component consists of two essays.
Essay 1 discusses comparative representations of
illness and disease and the use of metaphoric language.
Essay 2 explores the controversial issue of
appropriation of research in realist fiction and the
requirement for writers to understand and take
responsibility for their choices of representation.