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'The brothers Kovalenko...did not kill Jews just because they were poor and Ukrainian, and did not know any better. They killed Jews because they believed that they themselves were savages.'
'The Hand that Signed the Paper tells the story of Vitaly, a Ukrainian peasant, who endures the destruction of his village and family by Stalin's communism. He welcomes the Nazi invasion in 1941 and willingly enlists in the SS Death Squads to take a horrifying revenge against those he perceives to be his persecutors.
'This remarkable novel, a shocking story of the hatred that gives evil life, is also an eloquent plea for peace and justice.' (Publication summary)
'As war crimes prosecutions seize Australia, Fiona Kovalenko discovers that her own family is implicated in the darkest events of the twentieth century. This is their story. First published under an assumed identity, The Hand that Signed the Paper remains one of the most celebrated and controversial books in recent Australian literature. With a new introduction by the author, it continues to raise urgent questions about history, responsibility, and truth.'
(2018 Wilkinson Publishing)
Notes
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Epigraph:
The hand that signed the paper felled a city; five sovereign fingers taxed the breath, doubled the globe of dead and halved a country; these five kings did a king to death. The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever, and famine grew, and locusts came; great is the hand that holds dominion over man by a scribbled name.
– Dylan Thomas, The Hand that Signed the Paper
In such condition…there is no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: And the life of man, solitary, pore, nasty, brutish, and short.
– Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
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Dedication:
For my family, and for Melissa Richards and Paul Gadaloff Vox et praeterea nihil
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Author's note:
'There are many stories in the world. People speak; stories are passed on. Stories and words have a life of their own, but only if others listen.'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
- Editorial [Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction no.16, December 1996] single work criticism
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y
Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature : Criticism in the Age of Neuroawareness London : Routledge , 2021 21558011 2021 multi chapter work criticism
'This unique book on neurocognitive interpretations of Australian literature covers a wide range of analyses by discussing Australian Literary Studies, Aboriginal literary texts, women writers, ethnic writing, bestsellers, neurodivergence fiction, emerging as well as high profile writers, literary hoaxes and controversies, book culture, LGBTIQA+ authors, to name a few. It eclectically brings together a wide gamut of cognitive concepts and literary genres at the intersection of Australian literary studies and cognitive literary studies in the first single-author volume of its kind. It takes Australian Literary Studies into the age of neuroawareness and provides new pathways in contemporary criticism.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
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Unreliable Narrators
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , June 2018;'Recent scandals in Australian non-fiction have highlighted publishers’ responsibilities not only to their readers but to their authors’ subjects. But is a failure of fact-checking solely to blame? Or are there further hidden risks in the way these revelations are reported?' (Introduction)
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Displaced Persons (1947–52) in Australia : Memory in Autobiography
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Migrant Nation : Australian Culture, Society and Identity 2017; (p. 151-176) -
The Culture Wars in the Demidenko Affair
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: A History of Australian Literary Criticism 2016; (p. 438-449)
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Two Sides to the Story : For
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 December 2003; (p. 14)
— Review of The Hand that Signed the Paper 1994 single work novel -
Two Sides to the Story : Against
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 December 2003; (p. 14)
— Review of The Hand that Signed the Paper 1994 single work novel -
Assassins of Memory
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , August/September no. 18 1995; (p. 44-48)
— Review of The Hand that Signed the Paper 1994 single work novel -
Back in the USSR
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 53 no. 4 1994; (p. 765-767)
— Review of The Hand that Signed the Paper 1994 single work novel -
Courageous Writing
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 August 1994; (p. wkd 6)
— Review of The Hand that Signed the Paper 1994 single work novel -
The Demidenko Affair and Contemporary Holocaust Fiction
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Holocaust and the Text : Speaking the Unspeakable 2000; (p. 125-141) -
Tautological Modernity : Democracy, Magic and Racism in the Demidenko-Darville Affair
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cultural Studies Review , May vol. 8 no. 1 2002; (p. 72-92) -
Jews and Forgiveness
1996
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: Quadrant , October vol. 40 no. 10 1996; (p. 4-5) -
Untitled
1996
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: Quadrant , October vol. 40 no. 10 1996; (p. 5-6) -
The Fabrication of Ukrainian-Australian Identity by Helen Darville
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Complicities : Connections and Divisions : Perspectives on Literatures and Cultures of the Asia-Pacific Region 2003; (p. 215-222) Discusses Darville's literary hoax in the context of Ukrainian-Australian writers and writing.
Awards
- 1995 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
- 1995 winner Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 1993 winner The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
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cUkraine,ccFormer Soviet Union,cEastern Europe, Europe,
- Brisbane, Queensland,
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cPoland,cEastern Europe, Europe,
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cPoland,cEastern Europe, Europe,
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cUkraine,ccFormer Soviet Union,cEastern Europe, Europe,
- 1939-1945
- 1940s
- 1990s