Book Description

Perhaps it is this element of risk, together with the magnetism of another person's confession of shameful experience, that make us such avid readers of autobiography.

Rosamund Dalziell proposes that shame is the driving force in many Australian autobiographies. Indeed, she suggests that the representation of shame is fundamental to the autobiographical process. Shame seeks concealment-and this, she argues, explains both why this fascinating link has not before been explored and why, when it is pointed out, we immediately know it to be authentic.

The calm clarity of Rosamund Dalziell's writing strengthens her powerful insights and arguments, the most potent of which is that autobiographical confrontion with shame can heal deep wounds, both for writers and for readers. This mature and innovative book will enrich the experience of all readers of autobiography. ... Read more

Book Description

Veronica Brodie is an Aboriginal woman of Ngarrindjeri-Kaurna descent. She grew up at Raukkan near Victor Harbor and until the mid-sixties lived under the Aborigines Protection Board. Later, after training as a nurse, marrying, having five children and recovering from alcoholism, Veronica Brodie was involved in the Hindmarsh Island Bridge affair, on the side of the Ngarrindjeri women who knew of the secret women's business and sought to stop the construction of the bridge. Veronica Brodie is now a respected Aboriginal elder who works to help her people remember and value their culture and traditions. This is her story. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Life in Australia in the early 1900s
What struck me most about this book is the density of both the language and the detail of Hal Porter's life in the first decades of the 1900s.

This is a classic Australian book. It is a beautifully written autobiographical work that one presumes was based on an extensive diary.

In short, this book is like reading primary historial sources based on the first two decades of what was then a quite ordinary life. Hal Porter starts with his earliest memories, about his parents at their house in inner suburban Melbourne - including watching life in the street from his cast iron balcony. Then the family packs up and moves to Bairnsdale in country Victoria. His vivid account of how to adapt to a new life and people around him is very enjoyable reading.

After his schooling he goes back to the city as a teacher. He is socially active and provides us with more detailed descriptions of life in Melbourne. Even the menus of exclusive restaurants are reported - for example, at The Latin, he eats tomato soup, lamb and apricot pie.

This book will not appeal to everyone. It will appeal most to Australians and some may have to persist at first to get used to the richness of the expression.

I would rate it as one the most engaging books I have read. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A beautiful and honest portrayal of fatherhood
Peter Carey's "A Letter to Our Son" is an honest portrayal of a relationship, being a father and being a partner in parenthood. Anyone who is a parent should buy this book. It is short enough to be read before yougo to bed - But I have read it at least five times. Beautifully presentedand written, this is a book that I treasure. ... Read more

Book Description

The poet and Irish patriot John Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1890) led a life as adventurous and dangerous as any fictional hero. His Fenian activities in England resulted in tranportation to Western Australia. Against all odds he escaped from his convict working party, boarded and American whaler and eventually reached Boston. In America, he became a successful newspaper editor, orator and champion of Irish immigrants and racial minorities. His death at th age of forty-six shocked the nation. Tony Evans draws on O'Reilly's poetry and writings - some which have only recently been discovered - to reflect the events which shaped O' Reilly's life. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

John Boyle O'Reilly
This was a well-written, detailed biography of a man who deserves to be more well known than he is.I agree with the other reveiwer that it did focus too much on his time in Australia nad not enough on his Boston career, but that is understandable since it was first published in Australia.

good work on a forgotten hero
i wish that the author had concentrated more on his career in boston and less on his time spent in australia , but overall this is a superb book for those unfamiliar with o'reilly. o'reilly was way ahead of his time in his social views and in his regard for oppressed groups and should definitely be remembered for that. the author has done a fine job. i greatly admire o'reilly -though i must admit i have a bias as i am related to him indirectly through his wife. ... Read more

Book Description

Years after his death, poet and political warrior James McAuley continues to provoke controversy. This is the story of his hidden relationship with fellow poet Harold Stewart; two greatly talented and enigmatic figures whose enduring and prescient contributions to Australia's political, spiritual and literary culture have been too long neglected. ... Read more

Book Description

In A Story to Tell, Aborigines from all over Australia talk of their lives - their families, their work, their languages and culture, the disappointments and sadness of the past, their hopes for the future. The ten authors come from all parts of Australia and the range of experiences which their stories reveal is testament to this. There is no room for stereotypes in the panorama of Aboriginal life which A Story to Tell presents. Nan Gallagher has drawn upon many years of experience as a writer in collecting these wonderful stories and photographs. All readers - Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, students of Australian culture, lovers of oral history - will enjoy the simple richness of these stories of Australian Aboriginal life. ... Read more