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y separately published work icon Displaced Person single work   novel   young adult   science fiction   fantasy  
Issue Details: First known date: 1979... 1979 Displaced Person
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

As everything around him grows gray and insubstantial, a teenage boy wonders whether the world is going crazy or he is. Then, 'within his twilight world, the narrator encounters two guides: a delinquent girl and an old tramp reminiscent of those in Celtic folktales'. Source: 'Forms of Power in Recent Australian Science Fiction'.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Hyland House , 1979 .
      image of person or book cover 5677132814629831798.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online
      Extent: 139p.
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: For Margaret, La Belle Dame sans Merci, Without whom...
      • Epigraph: All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. - Edgar Allan Poe.
      • Simultaneously published as Misplaced Persons, New York: Harper & Row 1979.
      ISBN: 0908090153
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Harper and Row ,
      1979 .
      Alternative title: Misplaced Persons
      Extent: 149p.
      ISBN: 0060222166, 0060222174 (lib. bdg.)
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1981 .
      Extent: 138p.
      ISBN: 0140058222
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Puffin , 1982 .
      image of person or book cover 8429954411572110692.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 138p.
      Reprinted: 1987
      ISBN: 0140311416
      Series: Puffin Plus Puffin (publisher), series - publisher
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Puffin , 1991 .
      Extent: 137p.
      ISBN: 0140346422 (pbk.)
Alternative title: De forlorade
Language: Swedish
    • Stockholm,
      c
      Sweden,
      c
      Scandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Plus ,
      1981 .
      Extent: 153p.
      ISBN: 9174062174

Other Formats

  • Braille and sound recording.

Works about this Work

The Fiction of the Future : Australian Science Fiction Russell Blackford , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 128-140)
'According to Russell Blackford 'commercial science fiction is the most international of literary forms.' He observes that 'Australian SF continues to flourish, even if it trails heroic fantasy in mass-market appeal.' Australian SF writers although published internationally, with a dedicated fan followings in USA, UK and Europe, were overlooked for a very long time by Australian multinational publishers. The international editions had to be imported and were then distributed in Australia (Congreve and Marquardt 8). Blackford in his chapter throws light on the history of Australian SF and observes how Australian SF writers, with their concern for the future, achieved a powerful synthesis in form and content. The progress of Australian SF, maturity of style in the work of younger writers, and massive worldwide sales make Blackford optimistic as he asserts that 'the best Australian writers in the genre will be prominent players on the world stage.' (Editor's foreword xii-xiii)
Serious Fantasy: Science Fiction and High Fantasy John Foster , Maureen Nimon , E. J. Finnis , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 155-176)
Untitled Cynthia Anthony , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 6 no. 1 1992; (p. 12)

— Review of Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel
Living with Ourselves : Recent Australian Science Fiction for Children and Young People Maureen Nimon , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 185-189)
Nimon observes that Australian science fiction for children tends to present futuristic narratives that are 'earthbound' rather than 'launching into the void between the stars or touching down on remote and wonderous planets' (185). She claims that writers of juvenile science fiction 'find Australia itself to be a challenging terrain...a continent whose people are neither comfortable nor assured in their possession of it' (185). Following a discussion of novels by Lee Harding (Displaced Persons, Waiting for the End of the World), Victor Kelleher (Taronga, The Makers), and Gillian Rubinstein (Beyond the Labyrinth, Skymaze and Space Demons), Nimon claims that as well as the tendency of Australian science fiction for children to remain earthbound, there is a pervasive theme of individualization, 'where the dangers encountered and the foes met are the powers of our own desires and weaknesses; we battle to control our unruly selves' and as such, 'the future lies in our own hands' (188).
Analogues of Anomie : Lee Harding's Novels Russell Blackford , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 10 no. 3 (Issue 30) 1990; (p. 5-13)
Forms of Power in Recent Australian Science Fiction Sneja Gunew , 1982 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 41 no. 2 1982; (p. 277-286)

— Review of Beloved Son George Turner , 1978 single work novel ; Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel ; Rooms of Paradise 1978 anthology short story ; The Dreaming Dragons : A Time Opera Damien Broderick , 1980 single work novel ; The Moon Baby John Bailey , 1978 single work novel ; The Altered I : An Encounter with Science Fiction 1976 anthology short story criticism poetry ; The View from the Edge : A Workshop of Science Fiction Stories 1977 anthology short story ; A Passage in Earth Damien Broderick , 1978 single work short story
Have you Been Missing Lately? Brett Harris , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 15-16 September 1979; (p. 12)

— Review of Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel
Fresh Voices in Fantasy and Science Fiction George Turner , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 16 1979; (p. 9)

— Review of Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel
Australian SF Novels : A Grey, Grey Future Van Ikin , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 2 no. 1 (Issue 4) 1979; (p. 85-95)

— Review of The Moon Baby John Bailey , 1978 single work novel ; The Luck of Brin's Five Cherry Wilder , 1977 single work novel ; Moon in the Ground Keith Antill , 1979 single work novel ; Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel
Untitled Cynthia Anthony , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 6 no. 1 1992; (p. 12)

— Review of Displaced Person Lee Harding , 1979 single work novel
Analogues of Anomie : Lee Harding's Novels Russell Blackford , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 10 no. 3 (Issue 30) 1990; (p. 5-13)
Living with Ourselves : Recent Australian Science Fiction for Children and Young People Maureen Nimon , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 185-189)
Nimon observes that Australian science fiction for children tends to present futuristic narratives that are 'earthbound' rather than 'launching into the void between the stars or touching down on remote and wonderous planets' (185). She claims that writers of juvenile science fiction 'find Australia itself to be a challenging terrain...a continent whose people are neither comfortable nor assured in their possession of it' (185). Following a discussion of novels by Lee Harding (Displaced Persons, Waiting for the End of the World), Victor Kelleher (Taronga, The Makers), and Gillian Rubinstein (Beyond the Labyrinth, Skymaze and Space Demons), Nimon claims that as well as the tendency of Australian science fiction for children to remain earthbound, there is a pervasive theme of individualization, 'where the dangers encountered and the foes met are the powers of our own desires and weaknesses; we battle to control our unruly selves' and as such, 'the future lies in our own hands' (188).
The Fiction of the Future : Australian Science Fiction Russell Blackford , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 128-140)
'According to Russell Blackford 'commercial science fiction is the most international of literary forms.' He observes that 'Australian SF continues to flourish, even if it trails heroic fantasy in mass-market appeal.' Australian SF writers although published internationally, with a dedicated fan followings in USA, UK and Europe, were overlooked for a very long time by Australian multinational publishers. The international editions had to be imported and were then distributed in Australia (Congreve and Marquardt 8). Blackford in his chapter throws light on the history of Australian SF and observes how Australian SF writers, with their concern for the future, achieved a powerful synthesis in form and content. The progress of Australian SF, maturity of style in the work of younger writers, and massive worldwide sales make Blackford optimistic as he asserts that 'the best Australian writers in the genre will be prominent players on the world stage.' (Editor's foreword xii-xiii)
Serious Fantasy: Science Fiction and High Fantasy John Foster , Maureen Nimon , E. J. Finnis , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 155-176)
Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Awards 1980 : Judge's Report 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , July no. 76 1980; (p. 4-6)
Last amended 14 Feb 2022 16:46:49
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