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Other People's Children single work   novella  
Issue Details: First known date: 1980... 1980 Other People's Children
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1980 Z115565 1980 selected work novella

    'Two novellas about the deep connections we forge with the people we love, and the pain of breaking those connections.

    'In Honour, Kathleen and Frank are amicably separated, in contact through shared parenting of their young daughter, Flo. But when Frank finds a new partner and wants a divorce, Kathleen is hurt. And Flo can’t understand why they all can’t live together.

    'In Other People’s Children, Ruth and Scotty live in a big share house that’s breaking up. Scotty is trying to hold on, remembering the early days of telling life stories and laughter and singing—and when the kids were everyone’s kids. But now the bitterness has crept in and their friendship is broken. Ruth is ready to move on—and she’ll take her kids with her.' (Publication summary)

    Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1980
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon My Hard Heart : Selected Fiction Helen Garner , Ringwood : Viking , 1998 Z444067 1998 selected work short story Ringwood : Viking , 1998 pg. 84-193

Works about this Work

Single Motherhood as a Site for Feminist Reimagination in Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip and 'Other People’s Children' Jane Scerri , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 21 no. 2 2021;

'By investigating the worlds of single mother protagonists in Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip (1977) and Other People’s Children (from Honour and Other People’s Children, 1980) this essay reflects on how Australian single mothers and their lived experiences were fictionally depicted in the decade the Supporting Mothers’ Benefit was introduced by the Whitlam Labor Government (1973).1 Much has been written about Garner’s variously-constructed collective households and the young, inner-city types who inhabited them. This essay focusses on how Garner’s single mothers negotiate the private and the political while negotiating maternal and erotic desire in the aftermath of the gains made by second-wave feminism. Contemporarily, despite these gains and the rise in and acceptability of SMC (single mothers by choice), ‘the family’ as an ideological construct, together with the predominance of phallogocentric logic continues to inhibit single mothers’ rights, equality and agency. This is one of the great contradictions of single motherhood: that while patriarchy enforces gendered and repressive values upon single mothers and their opportunities for transcendence, as a liminal, ‘in-between’ space, single motherhood presents a site for resistance and re-imagination, as well as an escape from domestic violence. I contend that in these early works Garner teases out this contradiction of constraint and freedom, similarly to how she famously examines the fault lines that exist in the ‘gap between theory and practice’ (OPC 53).'  (Publication abstract)

Habe Dank! Chester Eagle , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Well in the Shadow : A Writer's Journey through Australian Literature 2010; (p. 30-43)
A survey of Helen Garner's 'first phase'.
You Don't Think This is a Bit Too Helen Garner, Do You? Hannie Rayson , 1997 single work biography
— Appears in: The Age , 7 March 1997; (p. C3)
Australian Anti-Semitism John Ridland , 1995 single work correspondence
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 39 no. 12 1995; (p. 2-3)
Borderline Bodies: Women and Households in Helen Garner's `Other People's Children' and `Cosmo Cosmolino' Eleanor Hogan , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Literatures Review , Winter no. 30 1995; (p. 69-82)
A Year of Varietals Laurie Clancy , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , July no. 84 1981; (p. 26-30)

— Review of Monkeys in the Dark Blanche d'Alpuget , 1980 single work novel ; The Frangipani Gardens Barbara Hanrahan , 1980 single work novel ; Other People's Children Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Honour Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Alone : A Novel Beverley Farmer , 1980 single work novel ; The Impersonators Jessica Anderson , 1980 single work novel ; War Crimes : Short Stories Peter Carey , 1979 selected work short story ; Faces You Can't Find Again : short stories Michele Nayman , 1980 selected work short story ; Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , 1980 selected work novella ; Cherry Bloom Bruce Grant , 1980 single work novel
Conventions of Presence Peter Pierce , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 40 no. 1 1981; (p. 106-113)

— Review of Homesickness Murray Bail , 1980 single work novel ; Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , 1980 selected work novella ; Honour Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Other People's Children Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard , 1980 single work novel ; Who Shot George Kirkland? : A Novel About the Nature of Truth Frank Hardy , 1981 single work novel
[Review] Honour and Other People's Children Michele Nayman , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 27 1980; (p. 9)

— Review of Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , 1980 selected work novella ; Other People's Children Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Honour Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella
Author Opens a Locked-In World Geoffrey Dutton , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 13 January vol. 101 no. 5245 1981; (p. 56)

— Review of Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , 1980 selected work novella ; Other People's Children Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Honour Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella
Brisbane Blokes and Melbourne Ms. Gerard Windsor , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 25 no. 6 1981; (p. 71-74)

— Review of Honour, and, Other People's Children : Two Stories Helen Garner , 1980 selected work novella ; Other People's Children Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; Honour Helen Garner , 1980 single work novella ; The First UQP Story Book 1981 anthology short story ; Alone : A Novel Beverley Farmer , 1980 single work novel ; Faces You Can't Find Again : short stories Michele Nayman , 1980 selected work short story ; The Possession of Amber Nicholas Jose , 1980 selected work short story
Habe Dank! Chester Eagle , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Well in the Shadow : A Writer's Journey through Australian Literature 2010; (p. 30-43)
A survey of Helen Garner's 'first phase'.
Australian Woman Novelists of the 1970s: A Survey Margaret Smith , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: Gender, Politics and Fiction : Twentieth Century Australian Women's Novels 1985; (p. 200-221)
Borderline Bodies: Women and Households in Helen Garner's `Other People's Children' and `Cosmo Cosmolino' Eleanor Hogan , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Literatures Review , Winter no. 30 1995; (p. 69-82)
Australian Anti-Semitism John Ridland , 1995 single work correspondence
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 39 no. 12 1995; (p. 2-3)
You Don't Think This is a Bit Too Helen Garner, Do You? Hannie Rayson , 1997 single work biography
— Appears in: The Age , 7 March 1997; (p. C3)
Last amended 19 Jun 2001 17:12:20
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