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Joan London Joan London i(A31514 works by) (a.k.a. Joan Elizabeth London)
Born: Established: 1948 Perth, Western Australia, ;
Gender: Female
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Details of Works Taught

Text Unit Name Institution Year
y separately published work icon Gilgamesh : A Novel Joan London , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2001 Z894113 2001 single work novel (taught in 4 units)

'Gilgamesh is the epic story of a mother's search for the father of her child - from Australia to Armenia via England and Mesopotamia - all under the shadow of the imminent, and soon to be very real, Second World War. Narrated in a clear, poetic voice, it is a portrayal of the different journeys we choose to take through life and what happens when ordinary people get caught up in extraordinary, seismic events.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.).

 		Australian Literary Studies University of Western Australia 2015 (Semester 1)
y separately published work icon Gilgamesh : A Novel Joan London , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2001 Z894113 2001 single work novel (taught in 4 units)

'Gilgamesh is the epic story of a mother's search for the father of her child - from Australia to Armenia via England and Mesopotamia - all under the shadow of the imminent, and soon to be very real, Second World War. Narrated in a clear, poetic voice, it is a portrayal of the different journeys we choose to take through life and what happens when ordinary people get caught up in extraordinary, seismic events.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.).

 		Australian Textual Cultures University of Western Australia 2015 (Semester 1)
y separately published work icon Gilgamesh : A Novel Joan London , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2001 Z894113 2001 single work novel (taught in 4 units)

'Gilgamesh is the epic story of a mother's search for the father of her child - from Australia to Armenia via England and Mesopotamia - all under the shadow of the imminent, and soon to be very real, Second World War. Narrated in a clear, poetic voice, it is a portrayal of the different journeys we choose to take through life and what happens when ordinary people get caught up in extraordinary, seismic events.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.).

 		Journeys: Texts Across Place and Time University of Western Australia 2015 (Semester 2)
y separately published work icon Gilgamesh : A Novel Joan London , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2001 Z894113 2001 single work novel (taught in 4 units)

'Gilgamesh is the epic story of a mother's search for the father of her child - from Australia to Armenia via England and Mesopotamia - all under the shadow of the imminent, and soon to be very real, Second World War. Narrated in a clear, poetic voice, it is a portrayal of the different journeys we choose to take through life and what happens when ordinary people get caught up in extraordinary, seismic events.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.).

 		Australian Literary Studies University of Western Australia 2016 (Semester 2)
Text Unit Name Institution Year
y separately published work icon The Golden Age Joan London , North Sydney : Random House Australia , 2014 7617651 2014 single work novel (taught in 1 units)

'This is a story of resilience, the irrepressible, enduring nature of love, and the fragility of life. From one of Australia's most loved novelists.

'He felt like a pirate landing on an island of little maimed animals. A great wave had swept them up and dumped them here. All of them, like him, stranded, wanting to go home.

'It is 1954 and thirteen-year-old Frank Gold, refugee from wartime Hungary, is learning to walk again after contracting polio in Australia. At The Golden Age Children's Polio Convalescent Hospital in Perth, he sees Elsa, a fellow-patient, and they form a forbidden, passionate bond.

'The Golden Age becomes the little world that reflects the larger one, where everything occurs, love and desire, music, death, and poetry. Where children must learn that they are alone, even within their families.

'Written in Joan London's customary clear-eyed prose, The Golden Age evokes a time past and a yearning for deep connection. It is a rare and precious gem of a book from one of Australia's finest novelists. ' (Publication summary)

 		Australian Literature and Film Murdoch University 2016 (Semester 1)
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