AustLit logo
y separately published work icon The Common Rat selected work   short story   prose   autobiography   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 1993... 1993 The Common Rat
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Latest Issues

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

These twenty-nine stories and essays bring into strange focus the beauty, violence and irony of everyday day life. Carmel Bird's language is elegant, deadpan, and her dark fables of the last decade of the twentieth century delight and startle. (Source: back cover)

Notes

  • Epigraph: It is a curious but nevertheless well-ascertained fact that wherever there is a good habitat for a rat there a rat will be. Frank Buckland Curiosities of Natural History 1886
  • Epigraph: Rats - they're only human. Carrillo Mean
  • Comprised of three parts: 'Introduction'; 'The Common Rat: A Story in Seven Parts'; 'Stories and Essays'.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,:McPhee Gribble , 1993 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Asking for Trouble, Carmel Bird , single work prose (p. 3-8)
The Common Rat, Carmel Bird , sequence short story (p. 9-54)
The Common Rat, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 11-16)
The Cricketers' Arms, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 17-19)
Flick, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 21-24)
Red Letters, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 25-27)
P. D. Hepworth, Architect, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 29-35)
Henry Lawson's Chromosome, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 37-43)
Soldier of the Round Valleys, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 45-54)
Regular Engagement, Carmel Bird , single work essay (p. 57-63)
The Hair and the Teeth, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 65-70)
Pomona Avenue, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 71-77)
The Breast of the Black Madonna, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 79-81)
Selling Up, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 83-86)
The Sea Is Going to France, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 87-90)
Woman in Dark Clothing, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 91-93)
I Hear the Chopper Going Over, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 95-98)
Thinking Like That, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 99-102)
Every Home Should Have a Cedar Chest, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 103-107)
White-Work, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 109-112)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Untitled Kathryn Murray , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 7 no. 2 1993; (p. 7)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
Untitled Cathy Bennett , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , Spring vol. 38 no. 3 1993; (p. 89-91)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
History, Imagination and Little Red Riding Hood Mark Roberts , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 131 1993; (p. 85-86)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay ; Soundings Liam Davison , 1993 single work novel
Behind the Surface of the World Eluned Lloyd , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , July vol. 12 no. 2 1993; (p. 62-63)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay ; Soundings Liam Davison , 1993 single work novel
Friendly Rats and a Quiet Bird John Hanrahan , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 April 1993; (p. 9)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
Untitled Kathryn Murray , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 7 no. 2 1993; (p. 7)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
Insights, Icons and Images of Pacific Pessimism Katherine Cummings , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13 March 1993; (p. 43)

— Review of Rim of Fire : Short Stories from the Pacific Rim 1992 anthology short story ; Port Moresby Mixed Doubles : Stories of Expatriates in Papua New Guinea Michael Challinger , 1992 selected work short story ; The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
Talent with a Mission Dennis Davison , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 February 1993; (p. rev 6)

— Review of True Country Kim Scott , 1993 single work novel ; The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay ; Harbour : Stories by Australian Writers 1993 anthology short story
How Close the Darkness Lies Claire Mills , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , December-January (1992-1993) vol. 72 no. 1033 1992; (p. 28)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
A Serious Writer, Endowed with Wit Suzanne Falkiner , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 March 1993; (p. C8)

— Review of The Common Rat Carmel Bird , 1993 selected work short story prose autobiography essay
Seduced by Satin and Lace Susan Lever (interviewer), 1993 single work interview
— Appears in: Island , Spring no. 56 1993; (p. 24-28)
Writers in Conversation : Carmel Bird in Conversation with Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (interviewer), 1993 single work interview
— Appears in: Famous Reporter , November no. 8 1993; (p. 8-22)
Last amended 24 Feb 2009 17:44:39
X