Here you will get the detailed summary of IGNOU MEG 09 Block 7 – David Malouf: Remembering Babylon.
We have provided the summary of all units starting from unit 1 to unit 5.
Introduction
IGNOU MEG-9 Block 7 focuses on “David Malouf: Remembering Babylon”, a powerful postcolonial novel that explores issues of identity, belonging, language, and the cultural clashes of colonial Australia. Written by one of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary writers, Remembering Babylon engages with the historical moment of European settlement and its encounter with the Indigenous world, using the story of a white boy raised by Aboriginals to examine broader questions of transformation, hybridity, and perception. This block guides readers through the literary, structural, and thematic dimensions of the novel, offering a critical appreciation of how Malouf blends history, fiction, and philosophical reflection in a richly symbolic narrative.
Unit 1: Contemporary Australian Fiction – An Overview
This unit contextualizes Remembering Babylon within the broader tradition of contemporary Australian fiction. It outlines how Australian writers have increasingly shifted their focus from colonial nostalgia and nationalist themes to more critical and introspective explorations of identity, race, gender, and displacement. The post-1970s literary landscape saw the rise of voices questioning Australia’s colonial past and its implications for national consciousness. Writers like Patrick White, Peter Carey, and David Malouf have helped redefine Australian fiction, infusing it with modernist techniques, postcolonial critique, and multicultural sensibilities. Malouf, in particular, stands out for his lyrical prose and philosophical depth, qualities that make Remembering Babylon both a historical and metaphysical work.
Unit 2: The Author, His Creativity and Remembering Babylon
This unit introduces David Malouf, emphasizing his role as a poet-novelist with a unique literary vision. Born in Brisbane to Lebanese and English parents, Malouf’s multicultural background informs his deep interest in themes of otherness, memory, and displacement. His writing often blurs the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual, the real and the imagined. In Remembering Babylon, Malouf creates the character of Gemmy Fairley, a white castaway raised by Aboriginals, who returns to a settler community and becomes a symbol of cultural anxiety and transformation. The novel reflects Malouf’s fascination with liminal states—between cultures, between innocence and experience, and between self and other. The unit explores how Malouf’s creative imagination transforms a historical anecdote into a profound literary meditation on Australia’s colonial legacy.
Unit 3: Structure, Characters and Metaphors
This unit provides a critical analysis of the novel’s structure, key characters, and symbolic elements.
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The structure of Remembering Babylon is non-linear and often fragmented, reflecting the complexity of memory, perception, and identity. It relies on shifting perspectives and interior monologues rather than a single omniscient narrative.
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The main characters include Gemmy Fairley, whose presence disrupts the settler community; Janet and Lachlan, children who respond to Gemmy with empathy and curiosity; and Mr. Frazer and George Abbot, who represent different intellectual and moral positions within the colonial framework.
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Malouf uses recurring metaphors and symbols—like light and shadow, borders, and language—to underscore themes of visibility, transformation, and fear. Gemmy himself becomes a metaphor for the unknowable, for the hybrid, and for what lies beyond rigid identities.
This unit emphasizes how the novel’s formal elements serve its thematic ambitions.
Unit 4: Narrative Strategies and Communication
Here, the focus is on Malouf’s narrative techniques and the theme of communication—both linguistic and non-verbal.
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The narrative shifts between different character perspectives and timelines, requiring the reader to piece together meaning. This multiplicity of voices challenges linear colonial histories and instead offers a more fragmented, subjective experience of the past.
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Malouf also engages deeply with the limits of language. Much of the novel’s tension arises from misunderstandings, silences, and the untranslatable aspects of human experience. Gemmy, who has forgotten most of his English, embodies the difficulty of expressing identity across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
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Symbolically, the novel critiques colonial attempts to name, classify, and control—acts that deny fluidity and alterity. The unit shows how communication, or the failure of it, becomes central to the novel’s interrogation of power, fear, and empathy.
Unit 5: Themes
This unit outlines the core themes of Remembering Babylon, many of which are central to postcolonial literature:
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Identity and hybridity: Gemmy’s ambiguous status as both white and Indigenous troubles the settler community’s binary view of race and civilization.
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Fear of the Other: The community’s fear of Gemmy reflects a broader fear of the unknown and a refusal to embrace cultural complexity.
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Belonging and exile: Characters like Gemmy, Janet, and even Lachlan navigate feelings of estrangement, trying to define their place in a land that feels both alien and intimate.
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Colonialism and power: The novel critiques the violence of settlement, not only in physical terms but also in epistemological and psychological dimensions.
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Language and silence: Language is seen both as a bridge and a barrier. The novel explores how silence, misunderstanding, and alternative forms of expression complicate human relationships.
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Nature and the land: The Australian landscape is a living, mystical force—resisting colonial control and revealing the spiritual impoverishment of conquest.
This thematic richness makes Remembering Babylon a profound exploration of Australia’s contested history and identity.