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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Rozanna Lilley is a social anthropologist, autism researcher, and Oscar’s mum. Oscar is on the autism spectrum, which means he has a particular way of being in the world and understanding the lives of those around him.
'As Rozanna and her husband Neil navigate Oscar’s childhood, the author reflects upon her own childhood and adolescence, spent in a libertarian, self-consciously bohemian household first in Perth and then in Sydney presided over by her parents, the writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley.
'Through personal essays, Lilley works through the ongoing repercussions of childhood trauma and captures Oscar’s rich inner world, as revealed through his vivid fantasy life and curious observations. Do Oysters Get Bored? is a shimmering examination of an eccentric family, the complexities of care and the toll of grief in middle-age. A set of poems serve as a counterpoint to the essays in this directly charming and surprisingly funny account of daily life.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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Writing Disability in Australia:
Type of disability Autism. Type of character Primary. Point of view Third person (subject of memoir).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Women Who Write About Their Feelings and Lives
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2019;
— Review of Traumata 2018 single work autobiography ; Do Oysters Get Bored? A Curious Life 2018 selected work essay'In her groundbreaking 1988 study of women’s biography Writing a Woman’s Life, literary scholar Carolyn Heilbrun wrote:
Feminist criticism, scholarship, and theory have gone further in the last two decades than I, even in my most intense time of hope, could have envisioned. Yet I find myself today profoundly worried about the dissemination of these important new ideas to the general body of women.' (Introduction)
-
'With Complexity’ : Growing up with Dorothy Hewett
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018; -
In Rozanna Lilley’s Memoir, a Curious Life Gets Even More Curious
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 July 2018;'At the nucleus of Rozanna Lilley’s memoir, Do Oysters Get Bored? A curious life, is Lilley’s son Oscar, a funny and endearing 12-year-old with a penchant for cartoons, a fear of dogs and a dislike for crying babies. Oscar is autistic, diagnosed at the age of three. But autism is just one small piece in the puzzle of a complex family story, as Lilley unravels memories of her own fraught early years.' (Introduction)
-
Dorothy Hewett's Daughters Rozanna and Kate Lilley Talk about Re-casting Their Mum's Image in the Age of #MeToo
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , June 2018;'Dorothy Hewett is remembered as a leading poet, playwright and novelist. Admired for her passionate and politically charged writing, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to literature in 1986.' (Introduction)
-
Disassociated from Normal Morality
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 16-22 June 2018;'Rozanna Lilley didn’t recognise the description. Intellectually, sure. But as it applied to her? No way. Lilley was in the office of her therapist, seven or eight years ago. It was their first session. To begin, Lilley tentatively offered a disclosure about her childhood. Tentatively, because she was unsure of its relevance. “Okay, I’m going to tell you a few things now in case it’s important.”' (Introduction)
-
Women Who Write About Their Feelings and Lives
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2019;
— Review of Traumata 2018 single work autobiography ; Do Oysters Get Bored? A Curious Life 2018 selected work essay'In her groundbreaking 1988 study of women’s biography Writing a Woman’s Life, literary scholar Carolyn Heilbrun wrote:
Feminist criticism, scholarship, and theory have gone further in the last two decades than I, even in my most intense time of hope, could have envisioned. Yet I find myself today profoundly worried about the dissemination of these important new ideas to the general body of women.' (Introduction)
-
Disassociated from Normal Morality
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 16-22 June 2018;'Rozanna Lilley didn’t recognise the description. Intellectually, sure. But as it applied to her? No way. Lilley was in the office of her therapist, seven or eight years ago. It was their first session. To begin, Lilley tentatively offered a disclosure about her childhood. Tentatively, because she was unsure of its relevance. “Okay, I’m going to tell you a few things now in case it’s important.”' (Introduction)
-
Dorothy Hewett's Daughters Rozanna and Kate Lilley Talk about Re-casting Their Mum's Image in the Age of #MeToo
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , June 2018;'Dorothy Hewett is remembered as a leading poet, playwright and novelist. Admired for her passionate and politically charged writing, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to literature in 1986.' (Introduction)
-
In Rozanna Lilley’s Memoir, a Curious Life Gets Even More Curious
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 July 2018;'At the nucleus of Rozanna Lilley’s memoir, Do Oysters Get Bored? A curious life, is Lilley’s son Oscar, a funny and endearing 12-year-old with a penchant for cartoons, a fear of dogs and a dislike for crying babies. Oscar is autistic, diagnosed at the age of three. But autism is just one small piece in the puzzle of a complex family story, as Lilley unravels memories of her own fraught early years.' (Introduction)
-
'With Complexity’ : Growing up with Dorothy Hewett
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018;
Awards
- 2019 shortlisted National Biography Award
