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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'He straightened his spine, raised his head, and extended his gun arm towards me in a slow, vertical arc. I saw then what he was, and stood still in front of him, for he was here on business. He was a small, serious, stone-eyed angel of mercy.
'Janet is a skeptic, a journalist; Maxine revels in New Age fantasies; and Ray, a drifter, is a born-again Christian. The common ground is the house they share. But their fragile domestic balance is about to explode amid the smashing of ukeleles, the unexpected ascension of an angel, and a sudden shower of jonquils.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)
Notes
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Includes two short stories ('Recording Angel' and 'A Vigil') and a novella (Cosmo Cosmolino), all three interlinked through characters. 'A Vigil' has also been published separately.
Contents
- Cosmo Cosmolino : Introduction, single work criticism
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille,
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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A Big Sunny Shack : Cosmo Cosmolino by Helen Garner
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Like an Australian Writer 2021; -
Consider This : Helen Garner's Cosmo Cosmolino
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2016; -
Subject and Style Transformation of Helen Garner : A Comparative Study of Cosmo Comolino and The Spare Room
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Xihua University , January vol. 32 no. 1 2013; (p. 45-49) 'Helen Gamer, an Australian female novelist, has tried to describe positive female images and establish female subjectivity in her early writing career. However, The Spare Room, her recently published novel, focuses on the female friendship and care, which are fully expressed by two elderly ladies in their conflicts arising either in the therapeutic process during which one helps her cancer-haunted friend or in the different attitudes toward fighting against death. This essay makes a comparative analysis of Gamer's two novels published in 1992 and 2008 separately, trying to reveal her change in feminist subject and narrative style within 15 years.' (Publication abstract)
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[Review] Cosmo Cosmolino
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 24)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
Cosmo Cosmolino : Introduction
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cosmo Cosmolino 2012;
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Recording Devils : Helen Garner's Cosmo Cosmolino and its critics
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The CRNLE Reviews Journal , no. 1 1992; (p. 49-55)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
[Review] Cosmo Cosmolino
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 24)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
Creating New Worlds
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , December-January (1991-1992) vol. 71 no. 1022 1991; (p. 14)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
A Recording Angel for the 1990s
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , March vol. 4 no. 1 1992; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
A World of Understanding in Cosmo Cosmolino...
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 6 no. 2 1992; (p. 147)
— Review of Cosmo Cosmolino 1992 single work novel -
Sensational Story : Rereading Female Heterotopias in Helen Garner's 'Cosmo Cosmolino'
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Literature and Sensation 2009; (p. 61-72) -
Are there Really Angels in Carlton? Australian Literature and Theology
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Ethical Investigations : Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics 2008; (p. 30-59) -
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) -
The Interview : Helen Garner
Shannon Burns
(interviewer),
2011
single work
interview
— Appears in: Wet Ink , no. 24 2011; (p. 28-32) 'Author of Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, and The First Stone - as well as other award-winning non-fiction - Helen Garner has kept readers on their toes for more than three decades. After sixteen years of non-fiction, readers might have assumed that Cosmo Cosmolino (1992) was destined to be the last of Garner's major fiction. Then, in 2008, The Spare Room - a novel based largely on three weeks spent nursing a terminally ill friend - was released to widespread critical acclaim.' (p. 28)
- y The Shrieking of Birds : A Study of Flow and Freedom in Helen Garner's Cosmo Cosmolino and The First Stone Canberra : 1996 Z1845574 1996 single work thesis
Awards
- 1993 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 1992 shortlisted NBC Banjo Awards — NBC Banjo Award for Fiction