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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A civilian chaplain records whispered confessions and low urgings into a notebook during his summer tenure at Central Street Police Station. His Summer Exercises are habitual - five times a day - his terseness can generate feelings so sharp that sometimes a great notion gets pared clean with a meagre swatch of syllables.
'Constructing this notebook of a sharp observer, author Ross Gibson builds a world: Sydney in 1946 - sordid and bruised after decades of depredations. A war will take your innards out. In The Summer Exercises, Gibson uses approximately 175 carefully selected black and white photographs from the collection of the Justice & Police Museum taken during the years immediately after World War II.
'These photographs, generated by NSW Police in the course of their investigations between 1945-1960, form a visual reference for richly imagined and experimental storytelling to take place. Anchored in the realities of 1940s Sydney police investigative procedure, the work is an artistic re-invention of history as it happened.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
-
A novel written in diary form.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
y
Prose Fiction in the Current Millennium : Reading and Writing Italo Calvino’s Six Memos
Perth
:
2018
16082283
2018
single work
thesis
'In 1985 Italo Calvino wrote a series of lectures (later published as ‘memos) in which he proposed five values he deemed crucial to literature as it moved into the next millennium: lightness, quickness, ‘crystal’ exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. This creative thesis addresses Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium in three ways. First, the rise of these values within the Calvino corpus is explored, including Calvino’s creative theoretical approach used in Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Second, Calvino’s values are reimagined in relation to contemporary literature and context. As Calvino’s memos address the current millennium, this thesis responds from the current millennium by contrasting the memos with recent works that can be read as exhibiting Calvino’s values and their binary opposites (i.e. weight, lingering, ‘flame’exactitude, ephemerality, and singularity). Third, Calvino’s memos are explored through creative practice by applying Calvino,s memos to produce five fictional works: The Perfect Democracy, Executive Chairman’s Letter to the Shareholders (a sample of the larger work Paige & Powe), 뻐꾸기 (a sample of the larger work Little Emperor Syndrome), Unlabelled Bottles, and Las Artes Hypnóticas (2022). The creative works serve as a conclusion, as evidence of the relevance Calvino’s memos have in addressing the predicaments in contemporary literature addressed in the theoretical portion of this thesis. This thesis examines each of Calvino’s memos in the various forms that contemporary prose fiction has taken. As the current millennium has been defined as an age of ‘too much’(i.e. too many subjects and issues to examine, too many potential associations to make, too many competing voices to vii represent, too many forms of competing media, and too many potential readers and readings to account for), this thesis examines how this has impacted contemporary fiction:
(a) The values of weight and lightness are explored in the ‘Maximalist’ novel (as defined by Stefano Ercolino);
(b) The values of quickness and lingering are explored in contemporary digital literature (i.e. prose fiction that is ‘digital born’);
(c) The values of crystal and flame exactitude are explored in the contemporary use of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ prose and interpretations of the ‘ideal text;
(d) The values of visibility, ephemerality, and ekphrastic strategy are explored in multimedial prose fiction; and
(e) The values of multiplicity and singularity are explored in contemporary encyclopaedic fiction, paranoid fiction, and the ‘novel of information multiplicity’ (as defined by John Johnston).'
Source: Abstract.
-
The Writerly Art of Celebrating Difference : Reading Ambiguity in Ross Gibson’s The Summer Exercises
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 21 no. 1 2017; 'The subject of Ross Gibson’s novel The Summer Exercises (2008) is a past society of which the author allows his readers only glimpses. How might Gibson’s work provide inspiration or direction for the fiction writer concerned with representing the other? In his work, Gibson utilises disparate real and fictional elements to reveal traces of a society no longer accessible: the city of Sydney, Australia, circa 1946. An analysis of the text, as it is understood by a creative writer in search of models for her own project, contends that the manner in which Gibson interweaves the miscellany of his narrative produces a ‘crowded style’, a form that eschews a dominant voice and invites a range of interpretive possibilities. The reader is thus encouraged to defer drawing any definitive conclusion from the text. Gibson’s experimental form and its ability to create a sense of ambiguity in its reading thus provides a stellar example of how one writer’s choices have mobilised imaginative and sensitive possibilities for representing the other.' (Publication abstract) -
Somewhere between Fiction and Non-fiction: New Approaches to Writing Crime Histories
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , April no. 28 2015; 'This paper explores innovative ways of writing across the borders between fiction and non-fiction in crime histories and examines how crime sources can actively encourage writing that is imaginative, subjective and ambiguous. Drawing on recent historiographic critiques of the archive, the paper argues that the constructedness of archival crime sources and close responsive reading and interpretation of these sources can validate, even demand, of historians the use of nuanced fictive writing practices that eloquently express the complexity of the crimes, the killers, the victims, the societies that created them and the intricacies and truths of the sources that contained them. As well as iconic examples from the literature, the paper examines my own research and writing about two very different murder trials from Perth, Western Australia, one already published, the other a work in progress. The trials of Martha Rendell and Audrey Jacob bookend sixteen years of Perth history from 1909 to 1925 when expectations and representations of women’s gender roles in Perth changed dramatically, producing very different outcomes for the women. The archival sources for each case determine the contrastive structures and styles for developing the resulting works of scholarly crime prose fiction.' (Publication abstract) -
How to Write History about Australia That is Ugly
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , May no. 46 2009;
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel -
Putting Back the Shadow
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 311 2009; (p. 10)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel
-
[Review] The Summer Exercises
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , Summer 2008-2009 vol. 88 no. 5 2008; (p. 48)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel -
Darkness Harbours within the Light
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 February 2009; (p. 11)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel -
Fiction
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 21 February 2009; (p. 24)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel -
Review
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 28 February 2009; (p. 28)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel -
Take Three
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Tines , 29 March 2009; (p. 26)
— Review of The Summer Exercises 2009 single work novel ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story -
'Adorable, Disgusting, Mesmerising...'
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , Summer 2008-2009 vol. 88 no. 5 2008; (p. 59) -
Somewhere between Fiction and Non-fiction: New Approaches to Writing Crime Histories
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , April no. 28 2015; 'This paper explores innovative ways of writing across the borders between fiction and non-fiction in crime histories and examines how crime sources can actively encourage writing that is imaginative, subjective and ambiguous. Drawing on recent historiographic critiques of the archive, the paper argues that the constructedness of archival crime sources and close responsive reading and interpretation of these sources can validate, even demand, of historians the use of nuanced fictive writing practices that eloquently express the complexity of the crimes, the killers, the victims, the societies that created them and the intricacies and truths of the sources that contained them. As well as iconic examples from the literature, the paper examines my own research and writing about two very different murder trials from Perth, Western Australia, one already published, the other a work in progress. The trials of Martha Rendell and Audrey Jacob bookend sixteen years of Perth history from 1909 to 1925 when expectations and representations of women’s gender roles in Perth changed dramatically, producing very different outcomes for the women. The archival sources for each case determine the contrastive structures and styles for developing the resulting works of scholarly crime prose fiction.' (Publication abstract) -
The Writerly Art of Celebrating Difference : Reading Ambiguity in Ross Gibson’s The Summer Exercises
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 21 no. 1 2017; 'The subject of Ross Gibson’s novel The Summer Exercises (2008) is a past society of which the author allows his readers only glimpses. How might Gibson’s work provide inspiration or direction for the fiction writer concerned with representing the other? In his work, Gibson utilises disparate real and fictional elements to reveal traces of a society no longer accessible: the city of Sydney, Australia, circa 1946. An analysis of the text, as it is understood by a creative writer in search of models for her own project, contends that the manner in which Gibson interweaves the miscellany of his narrative produces a ‘crowded style’, a form that eschews a dominant voice and invites a range of interpretive possibilities. The reader is thus encouraged to defer drawing any definitive conclusion from the text. Gibson’s experimental form and its ability to create a sense of ambiguity in its reading thus provides a stellar example of how one writer’s choices have mobilised imaginative and sensitive possibilities for representing the other.' (Publication abstract) -
y
Prose Fiction in the Current Millennium : Reading and Writing Italo Calvino’s Six Memos
Perth
:
2018
16082283
2018
single work
thesis
'In 1985 Italo Calvino wrote a series of lectures (later published as ‘memos) in which he proposed five values he deemed crucial to literature as it moved into the next millennium: lightness, quickness, ‘crystal’ exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. This creative thesis addresses Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium in three ways. First, the rise of these values within the Calvino corpus is explored, including Calvino’s creative theoretical approach used in Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Second, Calvino’s values are reimagined in relation to contemporary literature and context. As Calvino’s memos address the current millennium, this thesis responds from the current millennium by contrasting the memos with recent works that can be read as exhibiting Calvino’s values and their binary opposites (i.e. weight, lingering, ‘flame’exactitude, ephemerality, and singularity). Third, Calvino’s memos are explored through creative practice by applying Calvino,s memos to produce five fictional works: The Perfect Democracy, Executive Chairman’s Letter to the Shareholders (a sample of the larger work Paige & Powe), 뻐꾸기 (a sample of the larger work Little Emperor Syndrome), Unlabelled Bottles, and Las Artes Hypnóticas (2022). The creative works serve as a conclusion, as evidence of the relevance Calvino’s memos have in addressing the predicaments in contemporary literature addressed in the theoretical portion of this thesis. This thesis examines each of Calvino’s memos in the various forms that contemporary prose fiction has taken. As the current millennium has been defined as an age of ‘too much’(i.e. too many subjects and issues to examine, too many potential associations to make, too many competing voices to vii represent, too many forms of competing media, and too many potential readers and readings to account for), this thesis examines how this has impacted contemporary fiction:
(a) The values of weight and lightness are explored in the ‘Maximalist’ novel (as defined by Stefano Ercolino);
(b) The values of quickness and lingering are explored in contemporary digital literature (i.e. prose fiction that is ‘digital born’);
(c) The values of crystal and flame exactitude are explored in the contemporary use of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ prose and interpretations of the ‘ideal text;
(d) The values of visibility, ephemerality, and ekphrastic strategy are explored in multimedial prose fiction; and
(e) The values of multiplicity and singularity are explored in contemporary encyclopaedic fiction, paranoid fiction, and the ‘novel of information multiplicity’ (as defined by John Johnston).'
Source: Abstract.
Awards
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1946
