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Writing Political Autobiographies single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Writing Political Autobiographies
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'My own contribution to the ‘John Button ego poll genre’, as I call it, has always been unplanned and relates to circumstance. In my last two or three years in Parliament, after I had made it clear I had had enough of politics and wanted to leave, I had approaches, indeed pleadings, from seven publishers about writing my memoirs or autobiography. I did not want to do that. I wanted to finish what I was doing in Parliament and then think about all that at a later stage. I never contemplated writing an autobiographical book at all. What I did want to write was the book I, in fact, did write — Flying the Kite (1994), a different kind of book because the topic really interested me, about my experiences travelling as a politician and particularly as a minister.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Political Lives : Chronicling Political Careers and Administrative Histories Tracey Arklay (editor), J. R. Nethercote (editor), John Wanna (editor), Canberra : ANU E View , 2006 12044331 2006 anthology criticism biography

    'This monograph brings together some of the best practitioners of the art and craft of political biography in Australia. They are simultaneously some of our best scholars who, at least in part, have turned their attention to writing Australian political lives. They are not merely chroniclers of our times but multidisciplinary analysts constructing layers of explanation and theoretical insight. They include academic, professional and amateur biographers; scholars from a range of disciplines (politics, history, sociology, public administration, gender studies); and politicians who for a time strutted the political stage. The assembled papers explore the strengths and weaknesses of the biographical approach; the enjoyment it can deliver; the problems and frustrations of writing biographies; and the various ways the ‘project’ can be approached by those constructing these lives. They probe the art and craft of the political biographer.'(Publication summary)

    Canberra : ANU E View , 2006
    pg. 97-100
Last amended 19 Oct 2017 10:58:23
97-100 Writing Political Autobiographiessmall AustLit logo
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