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y separately published work icon Snake single work   novel  
  • Author:agent Kate Jennings http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/jennings-kate
Issue Details: First known date: 1996... 1996 Snake
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'My life is about to begin. This is the only thought in Irene’s head on the day she marries a handsome Second World War veteran and becomes a farmer’s wife. But Irene quickly grows restless. Bored to her back teeth, she is scornful of her dutiful husband, heedless of her children. She wants adventure, to experience whatever is on offer: men, travel, culture. As Irene and Rex raise children and crops, the tension between them builds and builds …

'Kate Jennings’s black humour and pared-back prose, at once understated and rich in startling imagery, resonate long after the final unnerving chapter. Set in an irrigation area – barren soil blessed by water – Snake is a modern classic.' (Publication summary)

Exhibitions

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17024129
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Notes

  • Epigraph: When the dog at morning/Whines upon the frost/I shall be in another place./Lost, lost, lost - Elizabeth Riddell.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Port Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Minerva , 1996 .
      image of person or book cover 791651741608121050.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 144p.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Published 01 Jul 1996
      ISBN: 1863305416 (pbk.)
    • Hopewell, New Jersey,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Ecco Press ,       1997 .
      image of person or book cover 4479142444206630297.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 157p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date 01 April 1997
      ISBN: 0880015381
    • Toronto, Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,      :       London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Boston, Massachusetts,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Back Bay Books ,       1999 .
      image of person or book cover 2089909839051569641.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 157p.
      Note/s:
      • Published January 19, 1999
      ISBN: 9780316912587
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Fourth Estate ,       2000 .
      image of person or book cover 1646955235315908786.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 160p.
      Reprinted: 2001 with ISBN 1841152854 (pbk.)
      ISBN: 1841152846
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 2003 .
      image of person or book cover 2246233365139084254.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 153p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 01 March 2003
      ISBN: 0330364006
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Black Inc. , 2011 .
      image of person or book cover 627057648722796589.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 160p.
      Note/s:
      • Published April 2011
      ISBN: 9781863955256
Alternative title: Bist du glücklich?
Language: German
    • Zurich,
      c
      Switzerland,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Nagel and Kimche ,       2000 .
      image of person or book cover 2152047715289678240.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Amazon website
      Extent: 191p.
      ISBN: 3312002710, 9783423132466
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.
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Related Works

[Extract] Snake Kate Jennings , 2017 extract novel (Snake)
— Appears in: The Drover's Wife : A Celebration of a Great Australian Love Affair 2017; (p. 77-80)

'A small boy was walking along a bush track, hands stuck in his pockets, lips puckered in a whistle. Sunlight streamed through the leaves, dappling his path. His presence disturbed a flock of corellas, and they burst into the air, wheeling and whirring. The boy watched appreciatively, canting his head, shading his eyes, and continued on his way, until he came to a log. He stepped over i, taking his hands out of his pockets, angling his body, for it was a large log. The snake struck with impersonal dispatch.' (Introduction)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Why Kate Jennings Is There in Everything Erik Jensen Writes Michael Williams (presenter), 2024 27637539 2024 single work podcast

'Erik Jensen was just 20 years old when he met Australian author Kate Jennings for the first time, forging a close relationship that continued until Kate’s death in 2021. This week, Michael chats with The Saturday Paper’s editor in chief about Kate’s life and her underappreciated work and Erik shares why her novel, Snake, is the best Australian book he’s ever read.' (Production summary)
Structure, Serpents and Serena McGarry : Kate Jennings' Snake Debra Adelaide , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Like an Australian Writer 2021;
y separately published work icon Erik Jensen on Kate Jennings Erik Jensen , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017 11466092 2017 single work essay

'Kate says she doesn’t know what to say about writing. When people ask, she tells them to prepare for a life of failure.

'Award-winning writer Erik Jensen plunges the reader into the world of acclaimed novelist, poet and pioneering feminist Kate Jennings. Weaving in his interviews with Jennings in New York, he shows how poetry, politics and family were transmuted into her first novel, Snake – a work of art that depicts rural Australia in a funny, cutting and unforgettable way. This is a biography of a book and the life that made it.' (Publication summary)
[Review] Snake Evie Marshall , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , July vol. 91 no. 1 2011; (p. 18)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
Pick of the Week Cameron Woodhead , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 19 March 2011; (p. 28)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 8 March 2003; (p. 4)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
[Review] Snake 1997 single work review
— Appears in: New York Times Book Review , 11 May 1997; (p. 11)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
Pick of the Week Cameron Woodhead , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 19 March 2011; (p. 28)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
[Review] Snake Evie Marshall , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , July vol. 91 no. 1 2011; (p. 18)
— Review of Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
Finally, It's Firebug Finch Katharine England , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 6 July 1996; (p. 10)
— Review of The Slap Roger McDonald , 1996 single work novel ; Snake Kate Jennings , 1996 single work novel
Jennings in Exile Andrew Field , 1997 single work biography
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 May 1997; (p. wkd 8)
Out of the Abyss Susan Wyndham , 1996 single work column biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 June 1996; (p. 12s)
Madame Bovary Set in 'Bush' Helen Chryssides , 1996 single work biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 July 1996; (p. 24)
A Serpent's Tale Susan Johnson , 2000 single work biography criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 25 November 2000; (p. 4)
Two of Us : Dare Jennings & Kate Jennings Amruta Slee , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 8 June 2002; (p. 14)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (21)
Last amended 30 Jun 2020 15:42:05
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  • Bush,
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
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