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y separately published work icon The Essential Bird selected work   short story   essay   biography   prose  
Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 The Essential Bird
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Enter the world of a murdered socialite, be consumed by rural madness, be ignited by the longings of an obsessive optometrist, engrossed by unorthodox book-binding, and moved by a heartbreaking meditation on the Oklahoma bombings. With its bewitching language, full of subtle harmonies and rhythms, The Essential Bird takes the reader on a voyage that delights, amazes and fascinates. Carmel Bird weaves fact, fantasy and history into a shimmering fabric of fiction that creates a world of hyper-reality both tender and profound. (Source: back cover)

Notes

  • Dedication: For Gerardo
  • Epigraph: Ruby-throated humming bird sips nectar / Black-backed magpie tells tale / 'Papaver Somniferum', Carrillo Mean

Contents

* Contents derived from the London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
:
Sydney, New South Wales,:Fourth Estate , 2005 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Made Glorious Summer, Carmel Bird , single work essay (p. 1-12)
Shooting the Fox, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 13-24)
Cave Amantem, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 25-30)
A Taste of Earth, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 31-36)
Woodpecker Point, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 37-82)
A Telephone Call for Genevieve Snow, Carmel Bird , single work short story horror
A primary school teacher is stalked by 'the Wolfman.'
(p. 83-88)
Major Butler's Kidneys, Carmel Bird , single work biography (p. 89-98)
The Golden Moment, Carmel Bird , single work short story

THE GOLDEN MOMENT The story of the golden moment is a story about suburban Australia in the nineteen fifties. The street in which the story takes place is often called ‘the golden mile’ because so many wealthy bankers and barristers and surgeons have for generations lived there in grandeur and comfort with their beautiful wives and happy families. Almost all of these families have very white skins indeed, and are by religion Christians (of the Protestant kind). The rare Jewish or Roman Catholic family is treated with superb tolerance and charity, but it is understood that such families are darkened by a blight too powerful and mysterious to name.

The houses themselves bear the names they were given by the original inhabitants and some of these names reflect a nostalgia for places far away, others expressing a hope in the youthful country of Australia. The style of architecture is labelled ‘Federation’ in recognition of the modern birth of the country itself. The trees and flowers are by and large European, and the branches of the oaks and elms that line the street on one side almost touch those on the other, so that in summer a magical green tunnel arches above the traffic, and people from less beautiful suburbs drive along here just to marvel at the trees along the golden mile. Even ordinary traffic seems to move sedately along the grandest section of the road.

A golden moment is that time of the afternoon photographers love, when the light of day bathes the world in one last glow of radiance, when Paradise is promised, when everything stands still at the instant between the darkness and the light, when fairies and goblins and other spirits good and bad may be revealed.
The golden moment on the golden mile is one of nature’s marvels.

(Source: author's website)

(p. 99-108)
Goczka, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 109-114)
Oklahoma As High as an Elephant's Eye, Carmel Bird , single work prose (p. 115-139)
Note: With title: Oklahoma
The Girl in the Freud Museum, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 140-152)
Buff Orpington and the Disasters of Middle Life Buff Orphington and the Disasters of Middle Life, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 153-160)
The Man in the Red Car, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 161-171)
The Right Stuff, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 172-177)
Automatic Teller, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 178-185)
Kay Petman's Coloured Pencils, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 186-191)
The Hair and the Teeth, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 192-197)
Pomona Avenue, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 198-204)
Higher Animals, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 205-208)
Buttercup and Wendy, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 209-215)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Fourth Estate ,
      2005 .
      Extent: 371p.
      Note/s:
      • Cover subtitle: The Very Best Stories from Carmel Bird.
      • 'A most uncommon writer. Splendidly original.' Thea Astley (appears on cover)
      ISBN: 0732269911

Other Formats

  • Also braille, sound recording.

Works about this Work

Short Order a Welcome Change Laurie Clancy , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 25 June 2005; (p. 4)

— Review of Vincenzo's Garden John Clanchy , 2005 selected work short story ; The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Florid Rhetoric James Ley , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 272 2005; (p. 47)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
In Short : Fiction Michael McGirr , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14-15 May 2005; (p. 26)

— Review of The Never Boys Scott Monk , 2005 single work novel ; Hope Bay Nicole Plüss , 2005 single work novel ; The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Bird's Eye View Danielle Benda , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 14 May 2005; (p. 5)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Bird's-Eye View of the Everyday World David Wood , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 May 2005; (p. 13)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Worlds Steeped in Colour Delia Falconer , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 April-1 May 2005; (p. R14)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose ; Vincenzo's Garden John Clanchy , 2005 selected work short story
Bird's-Eye View of the Everyday World David Wood , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 May 2005; (p. 13)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Bird's Eye View Danielle Benda , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 14 May 2005; (p. 5)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
In Short : Fiction Michael McGirr , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14-15 May 2005; (p. 26)

— Review of The Never Boys Scott Monk , 2005 single work novel ; Hope Bay Nicole Plüss , 2005 single work novel ; The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Florid Rhetoric James Ley , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 272 2005; (p. 47)

— Review of The Essential Bird Carmel Bird , 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
Darkness Descending Jane Sullivan , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 9 April 2005; (p. 3)
Last amended 26 Feb 2009 13:40:00
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