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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Quirky and neurotic, Gordon B. Shoesmith is a 30-something jazz musician seeing his twelfth psychiatrist in as many years. He increasingly discovers that there is a conflict between his artist's idealism and the hard reality of Life, fuelled by his ambitious journalist girlfriend, Jenny, and her disapproving parents. Gordon finds himself on an improvised, medicated roller-coaster ride of self-discovery that drags him from cockroach-infested, inner-city anonymity to mercurial artistic success, to the cynical world of advertising. He's finally tossed onto the road that leads to a cafe, run by Joe, a middle-aged, Palestinian Elvis impersonator, in the desert town of Venice, South Australia. A Cafe in Venice is a surreal, comic insight into the personal fulfilment we aspire to a mad, intransigent world.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Elvis Down Under : Simulations of a US Pop Icon in Australian Fiction
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 177-193) 'This paper will examine a selection of Australian fiction which features Elvis Presley, or a Presley manqué, as a character. This will include novels and short fiction by Debra Adelaide (A Household Guide to Dying), Julie Capaldo (Weather), Nick Cave (And the Ass Saw the Angel), Gail Jones ('Heartbreak Hotel') and Dorian Mode (A Cafe in Venice). The paper will investigate the capacity of a ubiquitous pop icon such as Presley to absorb and reflect socio-cultural meanings that transcend national boundaries while at the same time affirming elements of national character. In doing so it will consider the meaning and function of trans-national celebrity in a globalised world, and explore why it is that Australian authors—and readers—find a resonance in the figure of Elvis Presley that is seemingly missing from the pop-iconography of their own country.' (Author's abstract) -
Portrait of Cool
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier Mail , 24 October 2001; (p. 35)
— Review of A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
CoverNotes
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 28 October 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
Mode Indigo No More
2001
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 October 2001; (p. 13) -
Paperbacks
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 14 October 2001; (p. 53)
— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake 2001 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel ; Yesterday's Dust 2001 single work novel
-
Rear View from a Fibro Cottage
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29-30 September 2001; (p. 6-7)
— Review of A Trick of the Light 2001 single work autobiography ; Confessions of a Clay Man 2001 single work novel ; 2007 : A True Story, Waiting to Happen 2001 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
In Short
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 October 2001; (p. 15)
— Review of All That False Instruction : A Novel of Lesbian Love 1975 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
Paperbacks
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 14 October 2001; (p. 53)
— Review of The Deepest Part of the Lake 2001 single work novel ; A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel ; Yesterday's Dust 2001 single work novel -
CoverNotes
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 28 October 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
Portrait of Cool
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier Mail , 24 October 2001; (p. 35)
— Review of A Cafe in Venice 2001 single work novel -
Elvis Down Under : Simulations of a US Pop Icon in Australian Fiction
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 177-193) 'This paper will examine a selection of Australian fiction which features Elvis Presley, or a Presley manqué, as a character. This will include novels and short fiction by Debra Adelaide (A Household Guide to Dying), Julie Capaldo (Weather), Nick Cave (And the Ass Saw the Angel), Gail Jones ('Heartbreak Hotel') and Dorian Mode (A Cafe in Venice). The paper will investigate the capacity of a ubiquitous pop icon such as Presley to absorb and reflect socio-cultural meanings that transcend national boundaries while at the same time affirming elements of national character. In doing so it will consider the meaning and function of trans-national celebrity in a globalised world, and explore why it is that Australian authors—and readers—find a resonance in the figure of Elvis Presley that is seemingly missing from the pop-iconography of their own country.' (Author's abstract) -
Mode Indigo No More
2001
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 October 2001; (p. 13)
Last amended 28 Oct 2020 13:32:16
Subjects:
- Australian Outback, Central Australia,
Settings:
- South Australia,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
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