AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Reading Australia
Notes
-
Epigraph: "'You kill the things you kill,' Heriot said, 'but you never regret killing them. I've noticed that always about you people, how you love your prey. There's some wisdom there.'" (Randolph Stow, To the Islands).
-
Study guide/s also available.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille.
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
How Australian Dystopian Young Adult Fiction Differs from Its US Counterparts
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 August 2015; 'For children and adolescents, the tyranny of adults can make any world dystopian. Real or fictional – no apocalypse required. But how does our Australian young adult fiction (of the dystopian variety) differ from that being produced in the US? And why do teenagers love dystopia so much?' (Introduction) -
The Perfect Place to Set a Novel about the End of the World? Trends in Australian Post-Nuclear Fiction for Young Adults
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , vol. 53 no. 2 2015; (p. 22-29) '"Australia has a fascinating yet contradictory nuclear history," writes Jeffrey Lantis, and this ambiguity can be seen in the post-nuclear young adult fiction produced in that country. British, American and German speculative fiction for young readers set after nuclear disaster tends to suggest reasons for the disaster, and by implication, to position readers towards acting to stop the disaster happening in the real world. By contrast, Australian writers of both fantasy and speculative fiction tend to be less concerned with the cause of the disaster than with how the nuclear apocalypse can be used to explore a range of cultural issues which may appear to have little or nothing to do with nuclear disaster. Working with the notion of apocalypse as both revelation and, more popularly, as a violent "end event" (Curtis), this paper explores why young adult post-nuclear fiction produced in Australia tends to be different from that produced in Britain, the USA and Germany, and demonstrates how the nuclear disaster is used in a selection of Australian young adult post-disaster fiction to address cultural issues, particularly those dealing with Australia's Indigenous population, and with the contemporary treatment of refugees.' (Publication summary) -
y
Elements of Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature
Sydney
:
2009
27495428
2009
single work
thesis
'This thesis discusses the influence of elements of Bakhtinian camivalesque in selected contemporary Australian children’s literature. Many of the Bakhtinian ideas are centred on the work of Franqois Rabelais, particularly his five books collectively entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel. Aspects of the complex field of Bakhtinian camivalesque that have been considered include: attitudes to authority, the grotesque body and its working, the importance of feasting and the associated concepts of bodily functioning, customs in relation to food, and ritual and specific language such as the use of curses and oaths. The role of humour and the manifest forms this takes within carnival are intrinsic and are discussed at some length. These central tenets are explored in two ways: first, in relation to their connection and use within the narrative structures of a selection of books short listed (and thus critically acclaimed) by the Australian Children’s Book Council from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, and second, by means of contrast, to the commercially popular but generally less critically acclaimed works of other Australian writers such as Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. The thesis concludes by considering the ways in which camivalesque freedom is encouraged through and by new media.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Untitled
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 14 no. 2 2000; (p. 62)
— Review of Taronga 1986 single work novel -
Serious Fantasy: Science Fiction and High Fantasy
1995
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 155-176)
-
Untitled
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 14 no. 2 2000; (p. 62)
— Review of Taronga 1986 single work novel -
Fascinating Dip into the Future
1986
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 20-21 December 1986; (p. 13)
— Review of Taronga 1986 single work novel ; My Sister Sif 1986 single work novel -
A Journey Well Worth Taking
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 31 January 1987;
— Review of Taronga 1986 single work novel -
Animal Liberation
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 1-7 January 1988; (p. 21)
— Review of Taronga 1986 single work novel -
Australian Children's Book Awards : The 1987 shortlist
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 91 1987; (p. 29-32)
— Review of Riverman 1986 single work novel ; Creatures in the Beard 1986 single work picture book ; Kojuro and the Bears Helen Smith (translator), 1987 single work picture book ; The Wild 1986 single work picture book ; All About Anna and Harriet and Christopher and Me 1986 single work children's fiction ; Melissa's Ghost 1986 single work children's fiction ; Blue Days 1986 single work novel ; Space Demons 1986 single work novel ; Taronga 1986 single work novel ; My Sister Sif 1986 single work novel ; All We Know 1986 single work children's fiction ; Animalia 1986 single work picture book ; Farmer Schulz's Ducks 1986 single work picture book ; Pigs Might Fly 1986 single work children's fiction ; Sister Madge's Book of Nuns 1986 selected work poetry ; Boss of the Pool 1986 single work children's fiction ; Murgatroyd's Garden 1986 single work picture book ; The Nativity 1986 single work picture book -
Victor Kelleher : In His Own Words
Grant Stone
,
1986
single work
column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 1 no. 4 1986; (p. 16-18) -
The Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards 1987 : The Short Lists
1987
single work
column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 2 no. 2 1987; (p. 12-13) -
Over the Rim of Reality
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 3 no. 1 1988; (p. 4-8) -
Preoccupations in Kelleher's Fantasies
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 3 no. 4 1988; (p. 5-8) -
Preoccupations in Kelleher's Fantasies, Pt.2
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , November vol. 3 no. 5 1988; (p. 5-8)
Awards
- 1987 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Best Novel
- 1987 honour book CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Book of the Year: Older Readers
- Blue Mountains, Sydney, New South Wales,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- Urban,