AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Adaptations
-
y
Night Letters
2002
Strawberry Hills
:
Currency Press
,
2004
Z964489
2002
single work
drama
'Night Letters is the epic and profoundly moving story of Robert, a man who embarks on an odyssey of body and mind after being diagnosed with an incurable disease. On his journey, Robert encounters extraordinary people, all struggling as he is with the desire for intimacy and escape, for understanding and meaning, for any way to beguile time. Based upon Robert Dessaix's award-winning novel, this deeply personal and magical tale transcends the barriers of time in its search for insight into the human condition. ' (Publication summary)
Notes
-
Featured by the BIG Book Club, an initiative supported by The Advertiser in partnership with Arts SA, The Australia Council for the Arts, Channel 7 and 5AA and the public libraries of South Australia to promote a love of reading, discussion and literature, February 2004.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
A Sacred Journey to Naples : Michelle de Krester's Questions of Travel
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , no. 16 2016; (p. 95-117)Within the theme of Australian Travel to Italy, the article will analyse images of Naples in Michelle de Kretser’s novel Questions of Travel (2012). It will begin with a short introduction to Australian travel and an outline of de Kretser’s journeys in Italy, as well as her comments on her Italian experiences (Trapè 2015). It will then move on to the treatment of Italy in her novel. I will analyse which views of Italy the writer presents in Questions of Travel in order to define her way of approaching and responding to this country. I will do this by focusing on her descriptions of Italy and will avail myself of the theoretical discussions of description provided by Philippe Hamon.
-
Beauty
2012
single work
essay
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 116-137) -
From Notebook to Novel and from Diary to Dante : Reading Robert Dessaix’s Night Letters
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 3 2009; (p. 129-135)'This paper has developed out of a larger work in progress, which focuses on representations of Italy in contemporary Australian fiction and non-fiction prose. This larger project aims to add to an established body of work on travel writing by considering Australian texts that describe Australian travel in Italy, Italian people and Italian places.
In this paper, I will specifically focus on the representations of Italy in Robert Dessaix's novel Night Letters (1996). My paper will explore the relationship between the writer's actual journey in Italy and that of the creative work's main character. The novel offers the protagonist's account in the form of letters, which describe his travel from Switzerland across Northern Italy to Venice. I will begin by briefly outlining the Italian itinerary followed by Dessaix that would eventually inspire the novel. I will then explore the relationship between Dessaix's notebooks recording his two journeys in Italy and the literary accomplishment of Night Letters. My aim is to show ways in which an itinerary becomes a story, a complex narrative. Reference will be made to factual accounts and descriptions in the author's own diaries with an analysis of their generative role as key sources for the fictional work. This will be done through a close reading of particular passages, in the diaries and in the novel, concerning the same event.
A comparative analysis of the notebooks and Night Letters can show that Dessaix's diary entries relating to Italian places are woven into the fictional fabric of the 'night letters' according to a unifying principle.' Source: Roberta Trapè.
-
Italy and the Transformation of the Traveller in Robert Dessaix's Night Letters
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Imagined Australia : Reflections around the Reciprocal Construction of Identity between Australia and Europe 2009; (p. 215-231) This article focuses on 'the representation of Italy in Robert Dessaix's Night Letters (1996.)Trape states that the novel 'adds to a considerable corpus of texts by Australian writers, which are based on their travel experiences' and that Night Letters presents a process of self-knowledge and self-discovery, which unfolds through the discovery of the country.' (216) -
Australian Literature in the Translation Zone : Robert Dessaix and David Malouf
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Resourceful Reading : The New Empiricism, eResearch and Australian Literary Culture 2009; (p. 87-104) Dixon applies the techniques of close and 'distant' reading to explore contemporary Australian literature in the 'translation zone' with other languages. He discusses the influences, national and international, which lead to translations, and the significance of translators.
-
Paperbacks
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16 August 1997; (p. 12s)
— Review of When the Man in the Gold Mustang Met the Girl from the Pink Pussycat 1997 single work novel ; Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov 1996 single work novel -
Tall Tales, but True?
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , October vol. 6 no. 8 1996; (p. 38-41)
— Review of The Conversations at Curlow Creek 1996 single work novel ; Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov 1996 single work novel -
The Focus of Our Imagination
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Voices , Summer (1996-1997) vol. 6 no. 4 1996; (p. 112-115)
— Review of The Conversations at Curlow Creek 1996 single work novel ; Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov 1996 single work novel ; The Island in the Mind 1996 selected work novel -
Truths That are Greater Than Finance
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 11 October 1997; (p. C10)
— Review of The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow 1996 single work novel ; Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov 1996 single work novel -
Dead Reckoning
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 August 1996; (p. rev 8)
— Review of Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov 1996 single work novel -
On Translating
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 1 2003; (p. 83-92) -
Robert Dessaix's Journey into French
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 1 2003; (p. 95-101) -
Into the Light
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 April 2004; (p. 16-17) Dessaix discusses his experience of watching a performance of the play Night Letters, adapted from his autobiographical novel, Night Letters : A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov. -
Teaching Nomadism : Inter/Cultural Studies in the Context of Translation Studies
2005
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Transcultural Graffiti : Diasporic Writing and the Teaching of Literary Studies 2005; (p. 97-109) General discussion including a section on Robert Dessaix. -
'Not, Perhaps, Quite the Experience St Anthony Might Have Hoped for Me, but Illuminating Nonetheless' : Allusion in Robert Dessaix's 'Night Letters'
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 67 no. 3 2007; (p. 191-205)
Awards
- 1997 winner Benalla Award for Audio Book of the Year
- 1997 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
- 1997 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 1996 joint winner Australian Booksellers Association Awards — BookPeople Book of the Year Joint winner with Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion.
-
cItaly,cWestern Europe, Europe,
-
cSwitzerland,cWestern Europe, Europe,
-
cAustralia,c