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y separately published work icon A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Beatrice Davis, 1909-1992, was general editor at Angus and Robertson the main Australian publishing company from 1937 to 1973. There she discovered and published such writers as Thea Astley, Miles Franklin, Patricia Wrightson, Xavier Herbert and Hal Porter becoming a literary tastemaker in the process. A central figure in Australian literature – ‘respected, feared, courted and berated.’

'Originally published to great acclaim in 2001, A Certain Style introduced this stylish and formidable woman to thousands of readers and told a history of books and publishing in twentieth-century Australia. This reissue has a new introduction and updates throughout as the author presents a compelling account of a contradictory woman and her times.' (Source : 2018 edition)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my father Lance Albert Kent (1917-1997).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Viking , 2001 .
      image of person or book cover 9060804935682018355.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 344p.
      Description: illus., ports.
      Note/s:
      • Includes index.
      • Includes bibliography.
      ISBN: 0670911313
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: NewSouth Publishing , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 3138528088482220522.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 366p.
      Edition info: 2nd edition
      Note/s:

      • Published September 2018

      ISBN: 9781742236025
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Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Sound recording.
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Works about this Work

Tracking Changes Alexandra Payne (interviewer), 2018 single work interview
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , August vol. 98 no. 1 2018; (p. 20)

"Seventeen years after A Certain Style was first published, Jacqueline Kent's biography of Australia's first full-time book editor Beatrice Davis is being reissued for a new generation of publishing aficionados. Kent spoke with former UQP nonfiction publisher Alexandra Payne about what's changed in the editing profession since Davis' time." (Introduction)
Country and Lives : Australian Biography and Its History Melanie Nolan , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Cercles , no. 35 2015; 'There have been attempts to relate national characteristics “by reference to climate, habitat and soil and investing the collective subject with psychological attributes” for over two millennia. More recently historians of modern nationalism developed elaborate typologies often citing Martin Heidegger’s arguments that “the being of the human finds its essence in the being of place — the belonging together of being and topos” [MALPAS 2012 : 5-6]. And yet the challenge to the ontological connection between self and place, what Jeff Malpas describes as the “topological analysis of self and identity”, has a long philosophical tradition, too. This debate over experience, biography and nation has implications for historians who have raised empirical questions about the development of collective sensibilities over time among recent emigrant peoples, their physical peculiarities, behaviourial quirks and emergent national character. In this paper I consider the role that biography writing played in the construction of an Australian national identity geared to what Pierre Nora famously termed as the “roman national”, or the collective discourse on the history of the nation and its place in the world. I argue that Australian historians played a significant role in the history of biograpy writing and, related to it, the debate over collective Australian identity.' (Introduction)
Lives and Letters Barbara Garlick , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 Amie Livingstone Stirling , 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present Prue Torney-Parlicki , Alison Alexander , 2001 single work biography
[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 1 no. 2002; (p. 109-111)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
Precarious Power Maryanne Dever , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 13 no. 2 2002;
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 1 no. 2002; (p. 109-111)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
Lives and Letters Barbara Garlick , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 Amie Livingstone Stirling , 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present Prue Torney-Parlicki , Alison Alexander , 2001 single work biography
[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Patricia Rolfe , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 July 2001; (p. 8-9)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
Lady of the Literati Margaret Jones , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25-26 August 2001; (p. 12-13)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
A Small, Sharp Gemstone Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 1 September 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography
Discovering Beatrice Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 July 2001; (p. 8-9)
On Queen Bea's Trail Susan Wyndham , 2001 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 August 2001; (p. 15)
An Editor Who Ruled with a Certain Style Christopher Bantick , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 12 August 2001; (p. 54)
Stylish Review of Queen Bea's Life Between the Covers Angela Bennie , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 23-24 March 2002; (p. 15)
A Certain Winning Style Murray Waldren , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 8 May 2002; (p. 3)
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Awards

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Last amended 27 Sep 2019 10:22:32
Subjects:
  • 1909-1992
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