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''I was born in 1939. The other big event of that year was the outbreak of the Second World War, but for the moment, that did not affect me.'
'In the first instalment of Clive James's memoirs, we meet the young Clive, dressed in short trousers, and wrestling with the demands of school, various relatives and the occasional snake, in the suburbs of post-war Sydney. His adventures are hilarious, his recounting of them even more so, in this - the book that started it all...
''You can't put it down once started. Its addictive powers stun all normal, decent resistance within seconds. Not to be missed' Sunday Times
'"All that really needs to be said to recommend Unreliable Memoirs is that James writes exactly as he talks, which is all his millions of fans could wish" Evening Standard' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille and sound recording.
- Also large print.
Works about this Work
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Helen Garner, Robert Hughes and the Mystery of Nonfiction
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , December vol. 81 no. 4 2022; (p. 196-208)'It's 45 years since Helen Garner published Monkey Grip and perhaps a while later that people realised how fine a writer she was. In 1997 there was that shock of recognition that someone had succeeded in re-creating inner-urban Melbourne, the 'aqua profunda' part of the Fitzroy pool, the tumult and tumbling from bed to bed of shared housing, the heartache of loving a junkie. The initial response to Monkey Grip was a response to a literary brave new world that was also the translation of something real. Indeed, there were critics such as the late Peter Pierce who said that Helen Garner had just talked dirty and called it realism. Yes, and along with this, there was the persistent accusation that she had simply published her diaries and served them up as fiction. This last point had come to seem like the most vulgar misprision by the time I wrote a full-dress defence of Garner in Judith Brett's Meanjin in the mid 1980s.' (Publication abstract)
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The Perfect Chaos Theory
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 February 2015; (p. 30-31) The Age , 21 February 2015; (p. 34)
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography 'Clive James crafted an extraordinary memoir 35 years ago that remains unique in a crowded genre. celebrates ‘‘the best memoir in the world’’.' -
A One-Man Writers' Festival
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 204 2011; (p. 55-62) Peter Kirkpatrick on the poetic ambitions of Clive James, celebrity. -
Thinly Veiled Immodesty
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Dotlit : The Online Journal of Creative Writing , August vol. 4 no. 1 2003;
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography -
Culture Vulture
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 19-20 May 2001; (p. 42)
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography
-
Thinly Veiled Immodesty
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Dotlit : The Online Journal of Creative Writing , August vol. 4 no. 1 2003;
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography -
[Review] Unreliable Memoirs
1980
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , December vol. 25 no. 4 1980; (p. 86-88)
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography -
Culture Vulture
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 19-20 May 2001; (p. 42)
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography -
The Perfect Chaos Theory
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 February 2015; (p. 30-31) The Age , 21 February 2015; (p. 34)
— Review of Unreliable Memoirs 1980 single work autobiography 'Clive James crafted an extraordinary memoir 35 years ago that remains unique in a crowded genre. celebrates ‘‘the best memoir in the world’’.' - y A Text Response Guide to Clive James' Unreliable Memoirs Ballarat : Wizard Books , 1993 Z1612101 1993 single work criticism
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A One-Man Writers' Festival
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 204 2011; (p. 55-62) Peter Kirkpatrick on the poetic ambitions of Clive James, celebrity. - y 'An Ecstasy of Self-Consciousness' : The Clive James Phenomenon - Literary and Television Persona Canberra : 1989 Z1845584 1989 single work thesis After examining several of James's autobiographical and fiction works, Leahy concludes that 'television is the medium that suits the Clive James phenomenon the best. It is on television that the mask looks and sounds the best, but where we rarely see the "unreliable" ventriloquist, only the dummy.'
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The Kid from Kogarah
1980
single work
biography
criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 28-29 June 1980; (p. 9-10) -
My Life as a Joke: Comic Australian Autobiography
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Current Tensions : Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference : 6 - 11 July 1996 1996; (p. 57-63)