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Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Carpentaria
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Carpentaria's portrait of life in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance centres on the powerful Phantom family, whose members are the leaders of the Pricklebush people, and their battles with old Joseph Midnight's tearaway Eastend mob on the one hand, and the white officials of Uptown and the neighbouring Gurfurrit mine on the other. Wright's storytelling is operatic and surreal: a blend of myth and scripture, politics and farce. The novel is populated by extraordinary characters - Elias Smith the outcast saviour, the religious zealot Mozzie Fishman, leader of the holy Aboriginal pilgrimage, the murderous mayor Stan Bruiser, the ever-vigilant Captain Nicoli Finn, the activist and prodigal son Will Phantom, and above all, Angel Day the queen of the rubbish-dump, and her sea-faring husband Normal Phantom, the fish-embalming king of time - figures that stand like giants in this storm-swept world. (Backcover)

Exhibitions

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Notes

  • Dedication: For Toly.
  • Author's note: Inspired by all of the beauty that comes from having an ancient homeland that is deeply loved by those who guard it, and especially by my countrymen, Murrandoo Yanner and Clarence Waldon.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Artarmon, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Giramondo Publishing , 2006 .
      person or book cover
      Image courtesy of Giramondo Publishing
      Extent: 519p.
      Reprinted: 2012
      Note/s:
      • Published August 1st 2006
      ISBN: 1920882170, 9781920882303 (limited ed. : hbk), 9781920882310 (pbk)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Constable ,
      2008 .
      image of person or book cover 3122706879871186006.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 439p.
      Note/s:
      • Published March 1st 2008
      ISBN: 9781845297213
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Atria Books ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 7196117149774898480.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: x, 517p.
      Edition info: 1st Atria Books hardcover Ed.
      Note/s:
      • Published April 7th 2009
      ISBN: 9781416593102 (hbk.) 1416593101
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Constable ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 3137800868856335974.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 501p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 28 May 2009.
      ISBN: 9781845299484 (pbk)
    • New Delhi,
      c
      India,
      c
      South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
      :
      Navayana Publishing ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 7858399256970702224.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 536p.p.
      Note/s:
      • For sale in South Asia only.
      ISBN: 9788189059699
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Atria Books ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 4151239470290027565.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 333p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published April 27th 2015
      ISBN: 9781501122347 (ebk), 1501122347 (ebk)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Constable ,
      2016 .
      image of person or book cover 1529536207403221750.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 22 July 2016.
      ISBN: 9781472125453 (ebk)
    • Artarmon, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Giramondo Publishing , 2023 .
      image of person or book cover 3188016252823689728.jpg
      This image has been sourced from NewSouth Books
      Extent: 528p.
      Note/s:
      • Published May 2023
      ISBN: 9781922725400
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      New Directions ,
      2024 .
      image of person or book cover 7160006504018026470.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 480p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 6 February 2024.
      ISBN: 9780811238038
Alternative title: I cacciatori di stelle
Language: Italian
    • Milan,
      c
      Italy,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Rizzoli ,
      2008 .
      image of person or book cover 7291344916482137700.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 550p.
      ISBN: 9788817023825

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Braille.
  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

Writing Orality : Australian Aboriginal Voices in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria Xuehai Cui , Jiao Li , 2024 single work criticism
— Appears in: English Studies , vol. 105 no. 1 2024; (p. 118-141)

'Australian Aboriginal stories have thrived for thousands of years through oral tradition and Aboriginal author Alexis Wright invokes this tradition in the construction of her novel Carpentaria. This article investigates the orality of Carpentaria, which stages “oral” narrators who speak differently to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal readerships. First, using Bakhtin’s notion of “speech genre”, the article explores why Wright creates these two narrative layers. Second, it investigates the language use and tone of voice in the framing narrative that addresses non-Indigenous readers. Third, it looks closely at Wright’s linguistic experimentation in the embedded narrative, creating multiple oral effects through language and mobilising the storytelling dynamics of performance, spontaneity, rhythms and mnemonics. Finally, it discusses how her creative use of orality plays off and with its Western literary conceptions and enacts cross-cultural communication between the two readerships.' (Publication abstract)

From Brest…: Indigenous Environmental Practices as Responses to Pollution Laura Singeot , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 36 no. 1 2023; (p. 155-157)

'The Marina du Château room was the perfect location for the 2021 international conference "Indigenous Environmental Practices as Responses to Pollution," directly following the 2021 conference on Alexis Wright's Carpentaria in Brest. On October 21 and 22, 2021, the sunlit room lined with high windows opening on a large, oval balcony directly looked out on the Brest Harbour, such that the sky and ocean became integral parts of the conference venue. The ocean's mesmerizing power added an ethereal touch to the intriguing conversations of all participants, including Alexis Wright and Tara June Winch. Brest was the perfect point of convergence between the Americas and Oceania, with participants from all over the world, virtually and on-site, reflecting on contemporary environmental challenges and the different ways Indigenous artistic practices tackle them.' (Introduction)

Alexis Wright’s Story Words and Story-worlds Out of the Shadows : The Politics of Reading and Writing Carpentaria Jean-François Vernay , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 20 no. 3 2023; (p. 348-358)

'Drawing on Alexis Wright’s interviews and essays on the creative writing process, this article gives insight into how the Waanyi novelist conceived Carpentaria (2006) and the philosophy she holds for literature and storytelling. In the first two sections, notions of truth, modal thought, reference, simulation, imagination and reality will be discussed in relation to Lubomír Doležel’s propounded theory of possible worlds. Literary theory, the philosophy of fiction and cognitive literary studies are the three main areas that will be investigated to probe the storytelling dynamics of imagination and reality. In the last section, we will bring to the fore the ways in which novel-writing is for Alexis Wright an exercise in gap-filling, one that brings the silenced details out of the shadows.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Australia in Three Books Eugenia Flynn , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 82 no. 1 2023; (p. 24)

— Review of Up, Not Down, Mate! : Thoughts from a Prison Cell Robert Walker , 1981 selected work poetry ; Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel ; All That’s Left Unsaid Tracey Lien , 2022 single work novel
Trauma, Aboriginality and Revisionary Imaginings in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster Jenna-Lee Lynn , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 47 no. 1 2023; (p. 142-159)

'This article examines how Aboriginal conceptions of time and space in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster affect representations of personal, cultural and ecological trauma through privileging sites of wounding that embody Country. The four elements of air, water, earth and fire are central to understanding how each text navigates the complex relational matrices of Aboriginal traumas and respond to ongoing issues of genocide and dispossession that are part of Australia’s tragic history. Elemental energies in these novels are connected to powerful spaces that pain inhabits and moves through, providing insights into the significance of their engagement with Aboriginality and trauma, particularly when situated within the context of legislature including the Native Title Act of 1993 and the Wik decision of 1996. Elemental motifs perform a cyclical function that begins with deep connectedness to oceanic imagery in Carpentaria, then transitions to trauma inflicted on Country and culminates in a cathartic watery Armageddon. While Oyster’s consideration of elemental traumatic space is primarily attributed to land, cartography and wounded bodies, the novel’s narrative threads reach a similar apocalyptic denouement. Oyster’s cataclysmic fires of destruction are eclipsed by the regenerative potencies of water that rejuvenate Country and supplant horror with beauty.' (Publication abstract) 

When the Narrator's Art Matches the Magical Storytelling Alison Ravenscroft , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 19 August 2006; (p. 22)

— Review of Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel
Calming Influence in Balance Fraught with Pain Peter Pierce , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 September 2006; (p. 13)

— Review of Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel
Phantasmagorical Tale Fills a Legendary Landscape Liam Davison , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16-17 September 2006; (p. 32-33)

— Review of Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel
Small-Town Dreaming Katharine England , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 30 September 2006; (p. 10)

— Review of Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel
A Weird Mob Sally Blakeney , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 10 October vol. 124 no. 6541 2006; (p. 70)

— Review of Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2006 single work novel
The Call of the Claypans Jane Sullivan , 2006 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 September 2006; (p. 30-31)
From Here to Carpentaria Jane Sullivan , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 9 September 2006; (p. 26-27)
Dispatches from the Reviewing Front ... Stephen Matchett , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 1 no. 2 2006; (p. 22)
Matchett comments on reviews of the three books listed here as subjects.
A List Both Short and Sweet James Ley , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 April 2007; (p. 37)
On Writing Carpentaria Alexis Wright , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Heat , no. 13 (New Series) 2007; (p. 79-95) The Canberra Times , 23 June 2007; (p. B4)

Wright describes what drove her to write her novel Carpentaria, stating that 'For a long time while I was exploring how to write Carpentaria, I tried to come to some understanding of two principal questions: firstly, how to understand the idea of Indigenous people living with the stories of all the times of this country, and secondly, how to write from this perspective.'

Last amended 28 Sep 2023 16:37:50
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