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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In Scoundrel Days Brentley Frazer tells the story of his youth – wild, disillusioned, impassioned and desolate. Born into a Christian cult in outback Queensland, Frazer escapes through literature and poetry, drugs and violence, sex and alcohol; and his ensuing rejection of religion, authority and the 'way things are' leads to adventures, desperation and, just possibly, redemption.
'Beautifully written and urgently told, Scoundrel Days is a visceral, compelling assault on the senses. An at times brutal story articulated with a poet’s sensibility, it portrays a walker of edges exploring the dark side while searching for the love essential to build a soul.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For my only Sunshine 'ens causa sui'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Memoir Gorges on the Ugly Truths of Excess
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11 March 2017; (p. 21) 'Marcel Duchamp once said a painting that doesn’t shock isn’t worth painting. The French artist knew a thing or two about shock, that strange power art has to upset and surprise. The porcelain urinal he attempted to exhibit at the 1917 Society of Independent Artists show became a sensation after the committee refused to allow it. A urinal presented as art? It seems quaint to us today that anyone would consider it upsetting. We are used to the affronts that art so likes to give. Take a walk through MONA and see how far you go without being affronted.' (Introduction) -
Brentley Frazer, Scoundrel Days
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11 March 2017; 'The shame is that Frazer’s childhood in The Truth is so teasingly dismissed, as he chooses instead to chronicle the most boring decade of a young literary hoon’s life, aping, for the umpteenth time, the tired old conventions of a movement whose toxic influence still lingers.' (Introduction) -
'Scoundrel Days : A Memoir' by Brentley Frazer
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 36) ‘rentley Frazer, one of many scoundrels in his memoir Scoundrel Days, documents coming of age on the boundary of civilisation. His father’s vocation as the only policeman in a small northern Queensland mining town subjects Frazer to a chaotic side of life: a lockup only a stone’s throw from his bedroom; housing criminals and murderous poachers; bloodied victims of domestic violence showing up in the early hours; and the aftermath of car crashes. His parents’ involvement with the new-age cult ‘The Family’ introduces perverts into the home. But Frazer embraces his circumstances with a kind of brash vigour, starting The Wreckers gang, drinking, smoking, taking drugs, and committing acts of vandalism.’ (Introduction) -
Brentley Frazer : Scoundrel Days : A Memoir
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , March 2017; 'Brentley Frazer has changed names in this memoir to protect the privacy of particular individuals, but every word of it rings true. Children who grew up in far north Queensland will feel Frazer’s descriptions of the place on their skin. Teens who railed against the stultifying suburban hell of late 1970s Brisbane and came of age in share houses, surviving on shit jobs and the dole, will recall the taste of amphetamine and cheap booze and the smell of mouldy sheets on a stained mattress. The story at first glance resembles classic grunge, but proves much more interesting than that narrow pigeonhole suggests.' (Introduction)
-
Brentley Frazer : Scoundrel Days : A Memoir
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , March 2017; 'Brentley Frazer has changed names in this memoir to protect the privacy of particular individuals, but every word of it rings true. Children who grew up in far north Queensland will feel Frazer’s descriptions of the place on their skin. Teens who railed against the stultifying suburban hell of late 1970s Brisbane and came of age in share houses, surviving on shit jobs and the dole, will recall the taste of amphetamine and cheap booze and the smell of mouldy sheets on a stained mattress. The story at first glance resembles classic grunge, but proves much more interesting than that narrow pigeonhole suggests.' (Introduction) -
'Scoundrel Days : A Memoir' by Brentley Frazer
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 36) ‘rentley Frazer, one of many scoundrels in his memoir Scoundrel Days, documents coming of age on the boundary of civilisation. His father’s vocation as the only policeman in a small northern Queensland mining town subjects Frazer to a chaotic side of life: a lockup only a stone’s throw from his bedroom; housing criminals and murderous poachers; bloodied victims of domestic violence showing up in the early hours; and the aftermath of car crashes. His parents’ involvement with the new-age cult ‘The Family’ introduces perverts into the home. But Frazer embraces his circumstances with a kind of brash vigour, starting The Wreckers gang, drinking, smoking, taking drugs, and committing acts of vandalism.’ (Introduction) -
Brentley Frazer, Scoundrel Days
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11 March 2017; 'The shame is that Frazer’s childhood in The Truth is so teasingly dismissed, as he chooses instead to chronicle the most boring decade of a young literary hoon’s life, aping, for the umpteenth time, the tired old conventions of a movement whose toxic influence still lingers.' (Introduction) -
Memoir Gorges on the Ugly Truths of Excess
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11 March 2017; (p. 21) 'Marcel Duchamp once said a painting that doesn’t shock isn’t worth painting. The French artist knew a thing or two about shock, that strange power art has to upset and surprise. The porcelain urinal he attempted to exhibit at the 1917 Society of Independent Artists show became a sensation after the committee refused to allow it. A urinal presented as art? It seems quaint to us today that anyone would consider it upsetting. We are used to the affronts that art so likes to give. Take a walk through MONA and see how far you go without being affronted.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2018 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Autobiography / Biography / Memoir
- 2018 shortlisted Mascara Avant-garde Awards — Non-Fiction
Last amended 27 Mar 2018 13:17:25
