AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
These eleven stories bound together by recurring characters and by subtle devices such as the painter Marc Chagall and an overheard conversation on a train gradually develop the surprising resonances of a fictional world that is both familiar and strange, engaging and exhilarating.
What happens when three old friends from NIDA meet again? What is Marc Chagall doing in St Peters in the twenty-first century? Why does a young woman disappear in suburban Sydney? These people are governed by a swarm of impulses that hurl them into situations that are sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. There's seduction by cake, a buried secret and the announcement of a pregnancy on a peak-hour train. In eleven stories, bound together by recurring characters, Kissane creates a fictional world that is familiar and strange, engaging and exhilarating. Ultimately, The Swarm is a book about love: the difficulty of finding love and hanging onto it in the face of the dilemmas thrown up by life.
Notes
-
Dedication: For Di and Freya
-
Epigraph: The bees are flying. They taste the spring. - Sylvia Plath, 'Wintering'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Bringing the Reader Full Circle
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , September - November no. 9 2013;
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story -
The Swarm by Andy Kissane
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Reviews in Australian Studies , vol. 7 no. 4 2013;
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story -
A Year of Experimentation: Australian Fiction Moving On
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 92-108) -
World of Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 December 2012; (p. 22) The Canberra Times , 29 December 2012; (p. 15-16) The Saturday Age , 29 December 2012; (p. 22-23) Jane Sullivan nominates the best Australian and overseas published books for 2013. -
Lives Measured by Vulnerability
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 - 2 December 2012; (p. 20)
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story ; Las Vegas for Vegans 2012 selected work short story
-
In Short : Fiction
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 November 2012; (p. 24) The Saturday Age , 24 November 2012; (p. 28) The Sydney Morning Herald , 24-25 November 2012; (p. 36)
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story -
Lives Measured by Vulnerability
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 - 2 December 2012; (p. 20)
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story ; Las Vegas for Vegans 2012 selected work short story -
The Swarm by Andy Kissane
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Reviews in Australian Studies , vol. 7 no. 4 2013;
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story -
Bringing the Reader Full Circle
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , September - November no. 9 2013;
— Review of The Swarm 2012 selected work short story -
World of Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 December 2012; (p. 22) The Canberra Times , 29 December 2012; (p. 15-16) The Saturday Age , 29 December 2012; (p. 22-23) Jane Sullivan nominates the best Australian and overseas published books for 2013. -
A Year of Experimentation: Australian Fiction Moving On
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 92-108)