Why is it that Tim Winton, one of Australia’s most popular and literary novelists, has received little sustained critical attention? This collection of essays examines the impact of Winton’s work on our understanding of what it is to be Australian, to be human, to make and question meaning. His novels and short stories are vernacular and lyrical, optimistic and dark, holding up a peculiarly ‘Wintonesque’ mirror through which Australians - and international readers, differently - can see themselves, refracted.