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y separately published work icon Akhenaten single work   novel  
  • Author:agent Dorothy Porter http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/porter-dorothy
Issue Details: First known date: 1992... 1992 Akhenaten
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Akhenaten was a fascinating, shadowy figure in Egyptian history – archaeologists have discovered attempts to eradicate all traces of his brief reign, but enough remains to tell a remarkable story of incest, heresy, androgyny and a massive cult of personality.

'Like Albert Camus celebrated Caligula, Dorothy Porter's Akhenaten is an attractive warped megalomaniac who attempted to construct an heretical religion around one Sun God, with himself at the centre.

'Akhenaten is a novel in verse that captures the obsessive, erotic nature of its central figure. It is a towering achievement.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Picador ed.)

Notes

  • Novel in verse form.
  • Dedication: For my mother, Jean, / and also my grandmother, / Mary Fabian Featherstone.
  • Epigraph: To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again. (Egyptian Funerary Inscription)
  • Sound recording titled The Distant Present (2003).

Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:University of Queensland Press , 1992 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
I Survivedi"I've always known", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 3-4)
Malkatai"Incense and myrrh!", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 5-6)
Cat-Napi"In my father's harem", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 7)
Nofreti"I wouldn't let Nofret", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 8)
My Best Friendi"It was Nefertiti", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 9)
My Motheri"My mother is a politician", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 10)
Mother's New Godi"You don't cross Mother.", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 11-12)
His Favourite Foodi"I can't move.", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 13)
Priests and Cobrasi"Even as kids", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 14)
Heliopolisi"The first time I saw", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 15-16)
The Lioni"Somewhere in the desert", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 17)
Amun's Sanctuaryi"In the only bit of light", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 18)
My Fifteenth Birthdayi"My parents gave me", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 19)
Our First Timei"I can't stop shaking", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 20)
My First Cup of Winei"Ay gave me my first cup of wine", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 21)
My Co-Regency Coronationi"My father's breath stinks", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 25)
That's Himi"Ay,", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 26-27)
Like No One Elsei"You don't look awful", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 28)
By Royal Decreei"I am a dance", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 29)
Fitsi"Suddenly", Dorothy Porter , single work poetry (p. 30)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • South Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Hyland House , 1998 .
      image of person or book cover 6191779827408400932.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 160p.
      Edition info: Second edition.
      ISBN: 1864470275
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Serpent's Tail ,
      1999 .
      image of person or book cover 6104665561424867679.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xiv, 160pp.
      ISBN: 1852426195 (pbk)
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 2008 .
      person or book cover
      Image courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia
      Extent: xvi, 172pp.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction to the first edition, Dorothy Porter 3 April 1991, Mount Victoria.

        Introduction to the third edition, Dorothy Porter 29 November 2007, Mount Victoria.

      ISBN: 9780330424232
Language: Italian

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

'Singing in My Careless Hand' : Dorothy Porter's Verse Novels Andy Kissane , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Feeding the Ghost : 1 : Criticism on Contemporary Australian Poetry 2018; (p. 112-147)

'Dorothy Porter wanted to make poetry popular again, to bring r back into the mainstream and attract the readers that had abandoned it in the twentieth century, as the novel became the dominant literary form. She expressed that desire when discussing the mood and melancholia of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. She said, "I want to break away from that modernist fatigue. I want some green leaves to growl want poetry to get people intoxicated and drunk again. I want poem!' to be seen as something festive, fun and dangerous" (Digby 39). One way to capture some new ground for poetry was to challenge the relative domination of the lyric, which eventually resulted in Porter writing five verse novels. This chapter examines the successes and the limitations of these novels as narratives and as poetry.' (Introduction)

The Body of Work : Dorothy Porter's Akhenaten Elizabeth Parsons , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Gender Forum , no. 13 2006;

'This article stages an 'imagendering' of Akhenaten, a contemporary collection of poems by Australian poet Dorothy Porter. Surviving sculptures of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten depict a hermaphroditic subject who is, for Porter, a muse of transgression. Her fascination is with his challenge to long-held creative conventions of Egyptian art, depicting himself with a combination of breasts, swollen belly, rounded thighs and a penis. This collection of poems is thus a site of gendered reinscription made possible by the death of Akhenaten's physical body. His bodily absence allows for Porter's textual presence. Operating in this speculative historical space, a space in which the body of work physiologically cross-dresses and engages in sexual play across the boundaries of masculine/feminine, history/poetry, symbolic/semiotic, this poetry demonstrates that language itself can never evade embodiment.'

Source: Abstract.

Narrative Poetry: Ancient to Modern John Sheppard , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 11 no. 4 2004; (p. 10-14)
Sheppard considers the demise of narrative poetry among modern poets. However, he is gladdened by some outstanding proponents of the form, notably Les Murray and Dorothy Porter.
The Pregnant Man : Gender, Identity and Sexuality in the Poetry of Dorothy Porter's 'Akhenaten' Katherine Bode , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , May vol. 28 no. 1 2001; (p. 22-29)
Interview with Dorothy Porter Lesley Sly (interviewer), 2000 single work interview
— Appears in: Ulitarra , July no. 17/18 2000; (p. 65-77)
Sex and Death Lawrence Bourke , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 52 no. 4 1992; (p. 158-164)

— Review of Portrait of a Dog and Other Classical Bagatelles Dimitris Tsaloumas , 1991 selected work poetry ; Selected Poems Ronald McCuaig , 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten Dorothy Porter , 1992 single work novel
[Review] The Friendly Street Poetry Reader no. 16 [et al] David Kelly , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: OzMuze , April vol. 2 no. 4 1992; (p. 9-10)

— Review of Friendly Street Poetry Reader : Sixteen 1992 anthology poetry ; Black Life : Poems Jack Davis , 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten Dorothy Porter , 1992 single work novel
Some Australians John Leonard , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , October vol. 11 no. 3 1992; (p. 58-59)

— Review of Eagle and Emu : German-Australian Writing 1930-1990 Manfred Jurgensen , 1992 multi chapter work criticism ; Holding the Golden Apple : Love Poems Margaret Diesendorf , 1985 selected work poetry ; Australian Literary Studies vol. 15 no. 2 1991 periodical issue anthology ; Black Life : Poems Jack Davis , 1992 selected work poetry ; Dancing Table: Poems and Drawings 1986-1991 R. A. Simpson , 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten Dorothy Porter , 1992 single work novel
Sex and Power by the Nile Jennifer Maiden , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 140 1992; (p. 42-43)

— Review of Akhenaten Dorothy Porter , 1992 single work novel
Pharaoh, the Bodies, the Poison and the Butts Thomas Shapcott , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 May 1992; (p. 10)

— Review of Akhenaten Dorothy Porter , 1992 single work novel ; Three Days Out of Tidal Town Anthony Lawrence , 1992 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems John Forbes , 1992 selected work poetry ; Selected Poems Kate Llewellyn , 1992 selected work poetry
Interview with Dorothy Porter Lesley Sly (interviewer), 2000 single work interview
— Appears in: Ulitarra , July no. 17/18 2000; (p. 65-77)
Narrative Poetry: Ancient to Modern John Sheppard , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 11 no. 4 2004; (p. 10-14)
Sheppard considers the demise of narrative poetry among modern poets. However, he is gladdened by some outstanding proponents of the form, notably Les Murray and Dorothy Porter.
Royal Scandal and Palace Intrigue - 3360 Years Old Giles Hugo , 1992 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 18 July 1992; (p. 20)
Akhenaten / Fibonacchi and Cloacas : Dorothy Porter, Sara Dowse and Kathleen [Mary] Fallon at Round Midnight, 16 July 1992 Sue Moss , 1992 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Tasmanian Writers Union Newsletter , August vol. 12 no. 4 1992; (p. 7-8)
The Case of the Pharaoh's Penis i "My amber-eyed cousin walks on the beach", Jennifer Maiden , 1997 single work poetry
— Appears in: Southerly , Autumn vol. 57 no. 1 1997; (p. 104-106) Mines 1999; (p. 42-44)
Last amended 8 Dec 2017 15:51:22
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