On the Brink of Possibility : Alexis Wright’s Tragicomic Novel

On the Brink of Possibility : Alexis Wright’s Tragicomic Novel single work criticism

Author:agent Richard Carr

Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 On the Brink of Possibility : Alexis Wright’s Tragicomic Novel

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'Although many critics have emphasized the tragic and political dimension of Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria (2006), this article focuses on the novel’s use of humor and a comic structure in exploring Desperance, an isolated town in the North of Australia. An Indigenous narrator sets the humorous tone, conveying stories light and dark centered on the residents of Pricklebush, the Indigenous settlement on the fringe: their conflicts with each other; their vexed relations with Uptown, the white section; and their relationship with the powerful Gurfurritt mine. Despite the novel’s dark episodes, its comic dimension fulfills the promise of a finale defined by hope.' (Publication abstract)

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y Commonwealth : Essays and Studies Alexis Wright vol. 44 no. 2 2022 24301365 2022 periodical issue Abstract
'This special issue on Alexis Wright’s work includes ten academic articles, seven of which focus on Wright’s Carpentaria (2006), while three discuss the author’s two other novels – Plains of Promise (1997) and The Swan Book (2013) – and oeuvre as a whole. The issue also contains art and poetry by Australian Indigenous creative artists, as well as the reprint of a review of Carpentaria and a reflexive essay on translating Wright’s works into Chinese. From the centrality of Indigenous epistemologies in Wright’s oeuvre to her narrative creativity, representation of country, commitment to a sovereignty of the mind, humour, and refusal of genres, the various contributions to the special issue propose original analyses and approaches to better understand Wright’s nuanced, complex novels and non-fiction works.' (Publication summary)

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