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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'After too many nights of takeaway pizzas, Marita wants just one year off to look after her daughter, Camille. Then she meets Stephen, a public servant in the complex process of reinventing himself, training as a shiatsu masseur. As their relationship grows, so does the drama of parenting Camille, in this elegantly crafted, warmly appealing novel of contemporary Australian life.'
Source: Publisher's blurb (HarperCollins).
Notes
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Epigraph: The child's first decision, noted Freud, is whether to swallow it or spit it out.
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Discussion notes available.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
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The Politics of Renovation
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Lohrey 2022; (p. 32-59) In Lohrey's third novel Camille's Bread, Stephen is obsessed with Japanese forms of traditional medicine in the form of Zen shiatsu and macrobiotics. In The Project of the Self under Late Capitalism, an essay published in Overland in 2001, Lohrey argues that we would do better to see interests such as Stephen's as of an exercise in mindless narcissism and more about the individual's attempts to find a sphere of freedom and agency ... in response to experiences of powerlessness and worthlessness under regimes of economic rationalism: Lohrey's novels reflect on what happens to people's utopian impulses in the face of increasing barriers to meaningful engagement in politics. They trace a shift from a 195os water-front in which communal identity is deeply entwined with politics to a disillusionment with public life and a commensurate turn of attention inwards, towards the self and the body, from the 198os onwards.' (Introduction)
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Greek Olives and Italian Prosciutto on Crusty French Bread : Food in Contemporary Fiction by Australian Women
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , vol. 2 no. 2010; 'Women have often had a troubled relationship with food, but in recent decades there has been a bit of a turn around - at least in fictional terms. In some earlier Australian feminist fiction from the 1970s and 1980s, women were often portrayed as oppressed by, or resistant to, food and eating. Here I explore food in Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story, Andrea Goldsmith's Gracious Living, and two works by Helen Garner - The Children's Bach and Cosmo Cosmolino. In these stories women refrain from eating, or over indulge, as forms of resistance to oppression. But times have changed. This essay examines the changing nature of how food is represented in fiction by Australian women. The later novels explored here - Drusilla Modjeska's The Orchard, Marion Halligan's The Fog Garden, Stephanie Dowrick Tasting Salt and Amanda Lohrey's Camille's Bread (1995) - significantly reframe food preparation and consumption as positive experiences that promote women's independence, and contribute to their creative lives and personal relationships. These later texts transcend the earlier view of domesticated women as anxious or resistant consumers of food. Instead, food is aesthetically rich and sensually rewarding; a controllable and pleasurable experience promoting health, wellbeing, and positive loving relationships. (Author's abstract) -
Idle Thoughts
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21 September 2002; (p. 3) -
'The Private is Political' : Women's Writing and Political fiction
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 162 2001; (p. 35-40) -
Subdivisions of Suburbia: The Politics of Place in Melissa Lucashenko's 'Steam Pigs' and Amanda Lohrey's 'Camille's Bread'
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 18 no. 4 1998; (p. 72-86)
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Quiet Horrors Among the Polished Spoons
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30 September 1995; (p. 12A)
— Review of The Sea People 1995 single work novel ; Camille's Bread 1995 single work novel ; The Orchard Thieves 1995 single work novella -
Garden of Illusion
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser Magazine , 13 January 1996; (p. 13)
— Review of The Grass Sister 1995 single work novel ; Camille's Bread 1995 single work novel ; The White Garden 1995 single work novel -
Great Writing Lifts Women's Novels Out of Their Label
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 12 November 1995; (p. 10)
— Review of The White Garden 1995 single work novel ; Camille's Bread 1995 single work novel -
A Dance of Comestibles
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 65 1995-1996; (p. 91-94)
— Review of Camille's Bread 1995 single work novel -
Amanda Lowrey's Domestic Fare
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 176 1995; (p. 42-43)
— Review of Camille's Bread 1995 single work novel -
Greek Olives and Italian Prosciutto on Crusty French Bread : Food in Contemporary Fiction by Australian Women
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , vol. 2 no. 2010; 'Women have often had a troubled relationship with food, but in recent decades there has been a bit of a turn around - at least in fictional terms. In some earlier Australian feminist fiction from the 1970s and 1980s, women were often portrayed as oppressed by, or resistant to, food and eating. Here I explore food in Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story, Andrea Goldsmith's Gracious Living, and two works by Helen Garner - The Children's Bach and Cosmo Cosmolino. In these stories women refrain from eating, or over indulge, as forms of resistance to oppression. But times have changed. This essay examines the changing nature of how food is represented in fiction by Australian women. The later novels explored here - Drusilla Modjeska's The Orchard, Marion Halligan's The Fog Garden, Stephanie Dowrick Tasting Salt and Amanda Lohrey's Camille's Bread (1995) - significantly reframe food preparation and consumption as positive experiences that promote women's independence, and contribute to their creative lives and personal relationships. These later texts transcend the earlier view of domesticated women as anxious or resistant consumers of food. Instead, food is aesthetically rich and sensually rewarding; a controllable and pleasurable experience promoting health, wellbeing, and positive loving relationships. (Author's abstract) -
An Intuitive Trust That a Plot Will Emerge
1995
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 21 October 1995; (p. C10) -
The Language of Replenishment
1995
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 18 November 1995; (p. 8) -
Nurture of Body Feeds Soul
1996
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 9 March 1996; (p. 39) -
ASAL Literary Awards 1996
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Notes & Furphies , October no. 37 1996; (p. 8-10)
Awards
- 1996 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 1996 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Fiction
- 1996 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
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