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Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In this unauthorised biography, acquired for an unprecedented advance and in spectacular secrecy, long-time manager and the man who was there from the very beginning, Barry Humphries takes a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred look at an icon of our times - Dame Edna Everage. Superstar, swami, confidante and advisor to royalty, Hollywood stars and international political leaders, Dame Edna's life has catapulted her far from her humble Moonee Ponds beginnings as a suburban housewife to the most elite social and artistic circles in the world.

'Who would have thought that this modest Australian woman could achieve so much from London to Louisiana to New York to Tokyo? Who could have anticipated her global fame? Barry Humphries certainly didn't.' (From the publisher's website.)

Notes

  • Dedication: In homage to Emily Perry and Edith Nesbit
  • Epigraph: A mask tells us more than a face - Oscar Wilde

    Within every man there is the reflection of a woman, and within every woman there is the reflection of a man, Within every man and woman there is also the reflection of an old man and an old woman, a little boy and a little girl. - Hyemeyohsts Storm

    No one is unknown except for me - Francis Picabia

    Nothing ages a man like living always with the same woman - Norman Douglas

    Beginning with Proteus and on through the 'Metamorphoses' of Ovid, down to the wisest and most dearly beloved of Caliphs, Haroun-al-Raschid, everybody worth mentioning has delighted in the sensation of trying be be somebody else. - Edgar Saltus

    At last - the truth! - Pietro Aretino

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Hachette Australia , 2009 .
      Extent: xi, 388p., [24]p. of platesp.
      Description: illus. (some col.), ports (some col.)
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: October 2009.
      • Appendix: 'Miscellaneous Jottings, Doggerel and Ephemera Saved from Edna's Shredder' pp. 361-386
      ISBN: 9780733624001 (hbk.)

Works about this Work

Drama of the Dame Elizabeth Grice , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury Weekender , 2-3 October 2010; (p. 20-21)
Amusing Himself Elizabeth Grice , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 25 September 2010; (p. 16) The Daily Telegraph , 16 September 2010; (p. 27)
A Freshly-Iced Sponge Mark McGinness , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , January-February vol. 54 no. 1-2 2010; (p. 118)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
Nothing Like a Dame Bryce Hallett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 November 2009; (p. 33)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
The Mask behind the Mask Anne Pender , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , November vol. 4 no. 10 2009; (p. 10)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
Possum Magic Holly Byrnes , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 26 - 27 September 2009; (p. 7)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
The Mask behind the Mask Anne Pender , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , November vol. 4 no. 10 2009; (p. 10)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
Nothing Like a Dame Bryce Hallett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 November 2009; (p. 33)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
A Freshly-Iced Sponge Mark McGinness , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , January-February vol. 54 no. 1-2 2010; (p. 118)

— Review of Handling Edna : The Unauthorised Biography Barry Humphries , 2009 single work biography
He's the Quiet Type... but She is Not Dominic Maxwell , 2009 single work biography
— Appears in: The Australian , 7 September 2009; (p. 17)
Nothing Like This Dame Nicky Park , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 20 October 2009; (p. 3)
Amusing Himself Elizabeth Grice , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 25 September 2010; (p. 16) The Daily Telegraph , 16 September 2010; (p. 27)
Drama of the Dame Elizabeth Grice , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury Weekender , 2-3 October 2010; (p. 20-21)
Last amended 21 Dec 2010 13:59:37
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