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Notes
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'Publication of The Reading Group led to a libel action by Senator Terry Aulich in 1989, subsequently settled out of court, and the pulping of 1,000 unsold copies, events which aroused debate and some strong protests from the literary community; the novel was reissued several months afterwards.' Source: The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (1994).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Fire
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Lohrey 2022; (p. 88-118) Much of the Great Dividing Range that runs across Eastern Australia was burning while I wrote this book. In Canberra our days were punctuated with the anxious checking of air quality and emergency services apps. Amanda Lohrey is a writer who speaks to these times: her work is concerned with the relationship between people and the communities and environments they live with. More specifically, she writes about our apprehension of crisis and its proximity. Lohrey's novels use the motif of fire to engage with ethical and political questions about how individuals feel, and take, responsibility for others, especially in relation to environmental crisis. Fire acts both as symbol and plot device in Lohrey's novels and stories; it is a real crisis that is also a metaphor for catastrophe more generally. This is especially the case in The Reading Group (1988) and Vertigo: A Pastoral (2008). Two decades separate the publication of these novels, and formally they are extremely different, yet they show the continuation of a series of ideas about the relationship between personal and political conflagrations: how private life is impacted by political events, and how it can also be understood through the lens of large-scale crisis such as fire.' (Introduction)
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Reading Crisis : The Politics of Fire in Amanda Lohrey’s The Reading Group and Vertigo
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Westerly , July vol. 65 no. 1 2020; (p. 156-170) 'When parliament returned from its break during what we are now calling the 'Black Summer' of 2019-20, Prime Minister Scott Morrison rose to give a condolence speech for the victims of the fires. As leaders often do during a crisis, he reached for language that was grand, grave, even poetic, in his description of the catastrophic fires that continued to burn across south-eastern Australia as he spoke.' (Introduction) -
The Silver Age of Fiction
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 70 no. 4 2011; (p. 110-115)‘In human reckoning, Golden Ages are always already in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod, in Works and Days, posited Five Ages of Mankind: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic and Iron (Ovid made do with four). Writing in the Romantic period, Thomas Love Peacock (author of such now almost forgotten novels as Nightmare Abbey, 1818) defined The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) in which their order was Iron, Gold, Silver and Bronze. To the Golden Age, in their archaic greatness, belonged Homer and Aeschylus. The Silver Age, following it, was less original, but nevertheless 'the age of civilised life'. The main issue of Peacock's thesis was the famous response that he elicited from his friend Shelley - Defence of Poetry (1821).’ (Publication abstract)
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'There's No Guarantee That the Future Will Be Worth It' : Government and Class in Amanda Lohrey's The Reading Group
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Hecate , vol. 33 no. 1 2007; (p. 154-170) -
Pulp Facts
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Author , April vol. 37 no. 1 2005; (p. 4-5) Reports on books (most of them non-fiction) that have been pulped in recent years after legal complaints.
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Great Australian Fictions Revisited
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Blast , Winter no. 6/7 1988; (p. 32-33)
— Review of Matilda at the Speed of Light : An Anthology of Australian Science Fiction 1988 anthology short story criticism ; The Reading Group 1988 single work novel -
Only One Way to Write?
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Fine Line , October no. 4 1988; (p. 88-92)
— Review of Remembrance 1988 single work novel ; Ride a Cock Horse 1988 selected work short story ; Between the Flags and Other Stories 1988 selected work short story novella ; The Reading Group 1988 single work novel -
Volcanic Emotional Ground
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Vogue Australia , July 1988; (p. 80)
— Review of Remembrance 1988 single work novel ; The Sugar Mother 1988 single work novel ; The Reading Group 1988 single work novel -
Art which Imitates the Life it Condemns
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser Magazine , 4 June 1988; (p. 8)
— Review of The Reading Group 1988 single work novel -
Fiction or Fact
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Island Magazine , Summer no. 37 1988; (p. 69-71)
— Review of The Reading Group 1988 single work novel -
Pulped Fiction, It's a Fact
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 3 April 2005; (p. 32) -
Pulp Facts
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Australian Author , April vol. 37 no. 1 2005; (p. 4-5) Reports on books (most of them non-fiction) that have been pulped in recent years after legal complaints. -
'There's No Guarantee That the Future Will Be Worth It' : Government and Class in Amanda Lohrey's The Reading Group
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Hecate , vol. 33 no. 1 2007; (p. 154-170) -
The Silver Age of Fiction
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 70 no. 4 2011; (p. 110-115)‘In human reckoning, Golden Ages are always already in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod, in Works and Days, posited Five Ages of Mankind: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic and Iron (Ovid made do with four). Writing in the Romantic period, Thomas Love Peacock (author of such now almost forgotten novels as Nightmare Abbey, 1818) defined The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) in which their order was Iron, Gold, Silver and Bronze. To the Golden Age, in their archaic greatness, belonged Homer and Aeschylus. The Silver Age, following it, was less original, but nevertheless 'the age of civilised life'. The main issue of Peacock's thesis was the famous response that he elicited from his friend Shelley - Defence of Poetry (1821).’ (Publication abstract)
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Foreword : Word Fest or Housing Summit
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 18-19 March 1989; (p. 7)
Awards
- 1980s