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'Tranquility is not the point at all in Oriel Cray's `Exit Left' (Penguin, 227pp., $7.95). With keen intelligence and wry humour her 'Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman' open the world of Australian bohemia in the '30s and '40s. Innocent though it all seems now, Gray's socialist upbringing, immersion in the theatre of the Left and the Communist Party — as well as her stealing of her sister's husband? — definitely won disapprobation in her day. She depicts the passionate commitment, fun and guilty failures of her youth with detachment and amused calm. Now I know who popularised the songs that were still around in my university days; what 'James McAuley was like in his wild youth; and how the coming of World War 11 interrupted some of the processes that would have cured the cultural cringe years before Australians finally stood tall. I enjoyed this crisply written and unsentimental book. ' (Veronica Sen review : The Canberra Times 24 February 1985 p8)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Oriel Gray Makes Her Mark
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2020;'The playwright and screenwriter’s widely praised memoir returns to print'
-
The Play that Time Forgot
1995
single work
biography
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 9 December 1995; (p. 35-37) -
Autobiography and Three Women Writers : Barbara Hanrahan, Oriel Gray and Kylie Tennant
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Autobiography : The Personal Quest 1989; (p. 128-146) -
'History was on Our Side' : Memoirs from the Australian Left
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 46 no. 1 1987; (p. 108-121)
— Review of Broad Left, Narrow Left 1982 single work autobiography ; Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography ; Serpent's Tooth : An Autobiographical Novel 1984 single work autobiography -
Untitled
1986
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Gazette , no. 8 1986; (p. 65-67)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography
-
A Candid Look Back by One Who Cared
1985
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 9-10 March 1985; (p. 12)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography -
Amusement, Sorrow and Anger in Sydney
1985
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 16 February 1985; (p. 13)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography -
An Ingenue Defects from the Revolution
1985
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9 February 1985; (p. 45)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography -
Two Women Rebels
1985
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , July no. 99 1985; (p. 74-75)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography ; Doherty's Corner : The Life and Work of Poet Marie E.J. Pitt 1985 selected work biography poetry -
Untitled
1985
single work
review
— Appears in: The National Times , 15-21 February 1985; (p. 32)
— Review of Exit Left : Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman 1985 single work autobiography -
The Play that Time Forgot
1995
single work
biography
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 9 December 1995; (p. 35-37) -
Autobiography and Three Women Writers : Barbara Hanrahan, Oriel Gray and Kylie Tennant
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Autobiography : The Personal Quest 1989; (p. 128-146) -
Oriel Gray Makes Her Mark
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2020;'The playwright and screenwriter’s widely praised memoir returns to print'
- Lawson 1943 single work drama
- Western Limit 1946 single work drama
- Country towns,
- Lismore, Lismore - Goonellabah, Lismore area, Far Northeast NSW, New South Wales,
- Hunters Hill, Ryde - Gladesville - Hunters Hill area, Northwest Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1930s
- 1940s
- 1950s