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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Christos Tsiolkas is a writer of strength and courage. He burst on to the literary scene with his debut novel Loaded. The Slap solidified his place as one of the top writers writing today, and he followed it up with another critical and commercial success, Barracuda. He has written novels, short stories, plays, essays and film reviews. I spent more than an hour with Christos at the State Library of Victoria. His experience and his love of writing began with the books his parents gave him.' (Introduction)
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable For AC: Senior Secondary Literature (Unit 3)
Themes
Australian culture, Australian identity, migrant experience, perspective, place, style and form
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Information and communication technology, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Notes
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Transcript available on the website.
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Show notes
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Christos cites Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and David Copperfield, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn, and Peter Benchley’s Jaws as influences from an early age. He is also a fan of C. S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia, especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
- At the time of this interview, Christos had been watching the documentary about David Stratton, David Stratton: A Cinematic Life.
- Christos identifies with the Left of the political spectrum, and near the end of this interview muses on the impact the intellectual tradition of the Left had on his writing, and the responsibility he feels writers on the Left now have.
- The structure of Rashomon, the 1950 Japanese period film directed by Akira Kurosawa, inspired Christos when writing (and structuring) his first novel, Loaded.
- Christos would save the first edition of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood if his home were on fire. He also loves the works of Carson McCullers, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth and Ralph Ellison.
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