Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} a Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley a Descant for Gossips

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} a Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley a Descant for Gossips Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} A Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley A Descant for Gossips. The world’s #1 eTextbook reader for students. VitalSource is the leading provider of online textbooks and course materials. More than 15 million users have used our Bookshelf platform over the past year to improve their learning experience and outcomes. With anytime, anywhere access and built-in tools like highlighters, flashcards, and study groups, it’s easy to see why so many students are going digital with Bookshelf. titles available from more than 1,000 publishers. customer reviews with an average rating of 9.5. digital pages viewed over the past 12 months. institutions using Bookshelf across 241 countries. A Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley and Publisher University of Queensland Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780702254987, 0702254983. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780702253553, 0702253553. A Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley and Publisher University of Queensland Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780702254987, 0702254983. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780702253553, 0702253553. ISBN 13: 9781459696884. A stylish reissue of one of Thea Astley's finest early novels In this classic story of small - town life, two schoolteachers are drawn to each other by their concern for a lonely young girl. For as long as Vinny Lalor could remember, she had been on the fringe of things - in her family and at school. But as the final term of the year progresses, rumour and malice mount against Vinny and her two teachers, sweeping them towards scandal and, for one of them, disaster. A Descant for Gossips was Thea Astley's second novel, released in 1960 in England and Australia. In 1983 it was successfully adapted for television by the ABC. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Born in Brisbane in 1925, Thea Astley studied arts at the University of Queensland. She held a position as Fellow in Australian Literature at Macquarie University until 1980, when she retired to write full time. In 1989 she was granted an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Queensland. Thea Astley lived and wrote on the New South Wales south coast until her death in 2004. Astley won the Miles Franklin Award four times - in 1962 for The Well Dressed Explorer, in 1965 for The Slow Natives, in 1972 for The Acolyte and in 2000 for Drylands. In 1989 she won the Patrick White Award. Other awards include 1975 Age Book of the Year Award for A Kindness Cup, the 1980 Australian Literature Studies (ALS) Award for Hunting the Wild Pineapple, the 1986 ALS Gold Medal for Beachmasters, the 1988 Steele Rudd Award for It's Raining in Mango, the 1990 NSW Premier's Prize for Reaching Tin River, the 1996 Age Book of the Year Award and the FAW Award for The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow. A Descant for Gossips. The world’s #1 eTextbook reader for students. VitalSource is the leading provider of online textbooks and course materials. More than 15 million users have used our Bookshelf platform over the past year to improve their learning experience and outcomes. With anytime, anywhere access and built-in tools like highlighters, flashcards, and study groups, it’s easy to see why so many students are going digital with Bookshelf. titles available from more than 1,000 publishers. customer reviews with an average rating of 9.5. digital pages viewed over the past 12 months. institutions using Bookshelf across 241 countries. A Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley and Publisher University of Queensland Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780702254970, 0702254975. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780702253553, 0702253553. A Descant for Gossips by Thea Astley and Publisher University of Queensland Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780702254970, 0702254975. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780702253553, 0702253553. A Descant for Gossips : UQP Modern Classics. Available. Expected delivery to the Russian Federation in 11-23 business days. Description. A Descant for Gossips was Thea Astley's second novel, released in 1960 in England and Australia. In 1983 it was successfully adapted for television by the ABC. In this classic story of small-town life, two schoolteachers are drawn to each other by their concern for a lonely young girl. For as long as Vinny Lalor could remember, she had been on the fringe of things - in her family and at school. But as the final term of the year progresses, rumour and malice mount against Vinny and her two teachers, sweeping them towards scandal and, for one of them, disaster. A Descant for Gossips was Thea Astley's second novel, released in 1960 in England and Australia. In 1983 it was successfully adapted for television by the ABC. show more. A Descant for Gossips. Thea Astley was born in Brisbane in 1925. She attended the University of Queensland before teaching in both Queensland and New South Wales. She was on the staff at Macquarie University in Sydney from 1968 to 1980. Astley has won the Miles Franklin Award four times: The Well Dressed Explorer in 1962, The Slow Natives in 1965, The Acolyte in 1972, and Drylands in 2000. Astley's novel, The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow, was nominated in 1997 for the Miles Franklin Award. Thea Astley is featured on the Albert Street (Brisbane) literary trail, which commemorates authors who have used Brisbane as a locale..
Recommended publications
  • The Cyclone As Trope of Apocalypse and Place in Queensland Literature
    ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following work: Spicer, Chrystopher J. (2018) The cyclone written into our place: the cyclone as trope of apocalypse and place in Queensland literature. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://doi.org/10.25903/7pjw%2D9y76 Copyright © 2018 Chrystopher J. Spicer. The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please email [email protected] The Cyclone Written Into Our Place The cyclone as trope of apocalypse and place in Queensland literature Thesis submitted by Chrystopher J Spicer M.A. July, 2018 For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Arts, Society and Education James Cook University ii Acknowledgements of the Contribution of Others I would like to thank a number of people for their help and encouragement during this research project. Firstly, I would like to thank my wife Marcella whose constant belief that I could accomplish this project, while she was learning to live with her own personal trauma at the same time, encouraged me to persevere with this thesis project when the tide of my own faith would ebb. I could not have come this far without her faith in me and her determination to journey with me on this path. I would also like to thank my supervisors, Professors Stephen Torre and Richard Landsdown, for their valuable support, constructive criticism and suggestions during the course of our work together.
    [Show full text]
  • Dancing on Coral Glenda Adams Introduced by Susan Wyndham The
    Dancing on Coral Drylands Glenda Adams Thea Astley Introduced by Susan Wyndham Introduced by Emily Maguire The True Story of Spit MacPhee Homesickness James Aldridge Murray Bail Introduced by Phillip Gwynne Introduced by Peter Conrad The Commandant Sydney Bridge Upside Down Jessica Anderson David Ballantyne Introduced by Carmen Callil Introduced by Kate De Goldi A Kindness Cup Bush Studies Thea Astley Barbara Baynton Introduced by Kate Grenville Introduced by Helen Garner Reaching Tin River Between Sky & Sea Thea Astley Herz Bergner Introduced by Jennifer Down Introduced by Arnold Zable The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow The Cardboard Crown Thea Astley Martin Boyd Introduced by Chloe Hooper Introduced by Brenda Niall classics_endmatter_2018.indd 1 4/07/2018 5:20 PM A Difficult Young Man Diary of a Bad Year Martin Boyd J. M. Coetzee Introduced by Sonya Hartnett Introduced by Peter Goldsworthy Outbreak of Love Wake in Fright Martin Boyd Kenneth Cook Introduced by Chris Womersley Introduced by Peter Temple When Blackbirds Sing The Dying Trade Martin Boyd Peter Corris Introduced by Chris Wallace-Crabbe Introduced by Charles Waterstreet The Australian Ugliness They’re a Weird Mob Robin Boyd Nino Culotta Introduced by Christos Tsiolkas Introduced by Jacinta Tynan The Life and Adventures of Aunts Up the Cross William Buckley Robin Dalton Introduced by Tim Flannery Introduced by Clive James The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke The Dyehouse C. J. Dennis Mena Calthorpe Introduced by Jack Thompson Introduced by Fiona McFarlane Careful, He Might Hear
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of Food and Its Significance in the Australian Novels of Christina Stead, P
    F.O.O.D. (Fighting Order Over Disorder): An Analysis of Food and Its Significance in the Australian Novels of Christina Stead, Patrick White and Thea Astley. Jane Frugtneit A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Humanities James Cook University August 2007 ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to find a correlation between food as symbol and food as necessity, as represented in selected Australian novels by Christina Stead, Patrick White and Thea Astley. Food as a springboard to a unique interpretation of the selected novels has been under-utilised in academic research. Although comparatively few novels were selected for study, on the basis of fastidiousness, they facilitated a rigorous hermeneutical approach to the interpretation of food and its inherent symbolism. The principle behind the selection of these novels lies in the complexity of the prose and how that complexity elicits the “transformative powers of food” (Muncaster 1996, 31). The thesis examines both the literal and metaphorical representations of food in the novels and relates how food is an inextricable part of ALL aspects of life, both actual and fictional. Food sustains, nourishes and, intellectually, its many components offer unique interpretative tools for textual analysis. Indeed, the overarching structure of the thesis is analogous with the processes of eating, digestion and defecation. For example, following a discussion of the inextricable link between food, quest and freedom in Chapter One, which uncovers contrary attitudes towards food in the novels discussed, the thesis presents a more complex psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders related to food in Chapter Two.
    [Show full text]
  • The Genesis of Thea Astley's the Multiple Effects of Rainshadow
    The Genesis of Thea Astley’s The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow CHERYL TAYLOR JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY My purpose in this essay, which extends a project commenced a decade ago (Taylor 2009), is to analyse the sources of Thea Astley’s The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow, including but going beyond the list provided in the author’s ‘Acknowledgments.’ In truth, Astley’s achievement in Multiple Effects as in her other fiction far surpasses the sum of contributions that she derived from earlier writings. The mostly forgotten books that she lists as ‘[i]mpulses’ and her bequest to the Fryer Library of her newspaper sources and hand-written notes suggest that she may have welcomed a study of this novel’s genesis. The essay begins with an overview of the place of Multiple Effects in Astley’s oeuvre and the literary and political contexts for Astley’s increasing engagement with the history of Aboriginal dispossession. It then turns in detail to the novel itself and offers an excavation of the sources that inform its historical narrative. In doing this I hope to demonstrate something about Astley’s creative process: the extent and detail of her research, the ways in which her novel creatively reworks this archive, and some of the effects of that on the kind of history that Astley tells. Following the publication in 1994 of Coda, intended as the title indicates to be Astley’s last novel, the Keating Labor government awarded her a five-year Creative Fellowship of $325,000. Thus encouraged, after ‘one year of musing and two years of writing’ (Sayer 18) at Cambewarra on the NSW south coast, Astley published Multiple Effects in August 1996.
    [Show full text]
  • Abduction 8, 29, 45, 61, 63, 67, 70, 94, Aboriginalism (Mishra)
    Index abduction 8, 29, 45, 61, 63, 67, 70, 94, amnesia 120, 124 301 —See also: erasure, forgetting Aboriginalism (Mishra) 19, 95 Anderson, Benedict 97, 99, 325 Aboriginality 19, 60, 71, 78, 157, 179, Anderson, Millicent 227; “Disobe- 281, 283 dience” 227, 229 aboriginalization 46 angelic, the female as 44, 47, 51, 262 Aboriginals, as hostile 251, 324 “Another Mysterious Disappearance” —See also: black trackers; half-castes; (Leontine Cooper) 146 landscape, Aboriginal knowledge of; anthropomorphism 251, 262, 279, 302, miscegenation; mysticism 304, 309 Ackland, Michael 277, 278, 281, 282 anti-conquest 41, 52, 66, 69, 70, 92, 94, Acolyte, The (Thea Astley) 184, 186 100, 132, 152, 173, 183, 231, 252, 271, Adam Bede (George Eliot) 30 272, 276, 281, 283, 285, 287, 290, Adam–Smith, Patsy 21, 23, 24, 77, 103, 292, 302, 320, 326, 329, 331, 332 243, 245, 248, 252, 258 anti-individualism 119, 125, 142 adolescents, lost 5 anxiety 5, 10, 26, 32, 33, 34, 35, 43, 45, adults, lost xi, 3, 5, 6, 7, 14, 19, 25, 26, 97, 100, 105, 106, 107, 115, 116, 117, 27, 29, 30, 33, 45, 67, 120, 136, 146, 118, 120, 124, 130, 137, 139, 142, 159, 164, 188, 297, 308, 313 160, 161, 165, 168, 173, 175, 176, 177, 190 191 202 216 257 263 273 aestheticization 38 , , , , , , , 287 290 296 314 319 321 328 African American, as white construct 62 , , , , , , , 331 Alice 146, 174, 221, 254; “In 126 Memoriam: The Lost Children of ANZAC Day 15 Daylesford” 173 Appiah, Kwame Anthony 308 19 alienation 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 58, “Aquifer” (Tim Winton) – 81, 85, 88, 93, 104, 138, 153,
    [Show full text]
  • Biographical Information
    BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ADAMS, Glenda (1940- ) b Sydney, moved to New York to write and study 1964; 2 vols short fiction, 2 novels including Hottest Night of the Century (1979) and Dancing on Coral (1986); Miles Franklin Award 1988. ADAMSON, Robert (1943- ) spent several periods of youth in gaols; 8 vols poetry; leading figure in 'New Australian Poetry' movement, editor New Poetry in early 1970s. ANDERSON, Ethel (1883-1958) b England, educated Sydney, lived in India; 2 vols poetry, 2 essay collections, 3 vols short fiction, including At Parramatta (1956). ANDERSON, Jessica (1925- ) 5 novels, including Tirra Lirra by the River (1978), 2 vols short fiction, including Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories (1987); Miles Franklin Award 1978, 1980, NSW Premier's Award 1980. AsTLEY, Thea (1925- ) teacher, novelist, writer of short fiction, editor; 10 novels, including A Kindness Cup (1974), 2 vols short fiction, including It's Raining in Mango (1987); 3 times winner Miles Franklin Award, Steele Rudd Award 1988. ATKINSON, Caroline (1834-72) first Australian-born woman novelist; 2 novels, including Gertrude the Emigrant (1857). BAIL, Murray (1941- ) 1 vol. short fiction, 2 novels, Homesickness (1980) and Holden's Performance (1987); National Book Council Award, Age Book of the Year Award 1980, Victorian Premier's Award 1988. BANDLER, Faith (1918- ) b Murwillumbah, father a Vanuatuan; 2 semi­ autobiographical novels, Wacvie (1977) and Welou My Brother (1984); strongly identified with struggle for Aboriginal rights. BAYNTON, Barbara (1857-1929) b Scone, NSW; 1 vol. short fiction, Bush Studies (1902), 1 novel; after 1904 alternated residence between Australia and England.
    [Show full text]
  • Alma Mater Studiorum – Università Degli Studi Di Bologna
    Alma Mater Studiorum – Università degli Studi di Bologna DIPARTIMENTO DI LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE MODERNE Dottorato di Ricerca in Letterature e Culture dei Paesi di Lingua Inglese (Settore scientifico-disciplinare L-LIN/10, Letteratura Inglese) Ciclo XX TOPOGRAFIE DELL’IDENTITÁ: LA LETTERATURA REGIONALE DEL QUEENSLAND Presentata da: Coordinatore: Dottoressa Chiarissima Professoressa SERENA SABA SILVIA ALBERTAZZI Relatore: Chiarissimo Professor FRANCO MINGANTI Esame finale: anno 2008 Indice Introduzione p. iii Capitolo 1. Spazio e luogo: prospettive per la definizione di una metodologia di lavoro. Lo spazio nella teoria critica p. 1 Spazio individuale e ‘pratiche spaziali’ p. 5 Identificazione e topophilia p. 12 Spazio e letteratura p. 15 Spazio coloniale e postcoloniale: una negoziazione culturale p. 20 Capitolo 2. Regionalismo e letteratura regionale 2.1 Regioni e regionalismi nel contesto culturale e letterario australiano p. 29 Il regionalismo in Australia: il dibattito degli anni ottanta p. 29 Editoria locale, riviste, antologie p. 37 L’identità come mosaico: regionalismo australiano e canadese a confronto p. 39 Regionalismo e globalizzazione p. 46 2.2. Il Queensland: storia e cultura di una periferia australiana p. 51 Tra localismo e separatismo p. 51 Brisbane da città provinciale a terza metropoli p. 57 Capitolo 3. Il Queensland tropicale di Thea Astley Thea Astley come scrittrice regionale p. 63 Hunting the Wild Pineapple p. 64 Vanishing Points p 75 i It’s Raining in Mango p. 83 Per una mappa letteraria dell’opera di Thea Astley p. 95 Capitolo 4. Brisbane nell’opera di Jessica Anderson e Andrew McGahan. Dalla old Brisbane di David Malouf alla BrisVegas odierna p.
    [Show full text]
  • LOS AMOS DE LA ISLA Thea Astley --- Proyecto De Traducción De Laura Irene González Mendoza
    LOS AMOS DE LA ISLA Thea Astley --- Proyecto de traducción de Laura Irene González Mendoza Título original: Beachmasters Género: Novela Idioma: Inglés País: Australia Edición original: Penguin Books Australia (Victoria, 1985) ISBN: 0-14-007912-2 Extensión: 185 páginas NOVELA SINOPSIS El gobierno central de Trinitas no puede controlar Kristi, la isla periférica, como tampoco pueden hacerlo los dirigentes británicos ni los franceses. En esta isla del Pacífico donde la sangre y la tradición están tan mezcladas como las lealtades y los intereses, la revolución por la independencia será efímera. Aun así, arrasará con las vidas de sus habitantes: desde los colonos franceses y británicos, los nativos ni-kristi y los hapkas o mediacasta, hasta el otrora poderoso yeremanu o gran jefe, Tommy Narota. En este caos, Gavi Salway, un hapkas nieto de un antiguo hacendado, tratará de entender sus complicados orígenes y enfrentará una riesgosa prueba de identidad. Escrita originalmente en inglés, con frases en francés y en bislama (la lengua criolla de las islas Vanuatu), esta novela enfatiza la inequidad de las relaciones transculturales que se vive en un contexto poscolonial tanto a nivel lingüístico como político y social. Su publicación en español es relevante no sólo por la escasez de traducciones de obras australianas y por la importancia de la autora, sino por la actualidad de temas como la desigualdad, la identidad y el racismo, dentro y fuera del contexto poscolonial. ----- THEA ASTLEY (Brisbane, 1925 - Byron Bay, 2004) Narradora australiana galardonada con el Patrick White Award y distinguida como Oficial de la Orden de Australia. Publicó 15 novelas, la mayoría multipremiadas; entre ellas, The Well Dressed Explorer, The Slow Natives, The Acolyte y Drylands obtuvieron el Miles Franklin Award.
    [Show full text]
  • New Century Antiquarian Books
    NEW CENTURY ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS CHARLES WATT COLLECTION FIRST PART CATALOGUE TWENTY-THREE SUMMER 2008 Books are offered subject to prior sale at the nett prices in Australian dollars. All prices include Australian Federal Government Goods and Services Tax. Freight and insurance are extra and will be added to your invoice. Overseas customers will be invoiced in Australian dollars and are requested to remit payment in Australian dollars only. Books will be sent by airmail. Orders may be left at any time on our 24-hour answer phone (03) 9853 8408 (International +613 9853 8408) or by email – [email protected] or [email protected] or by mail to PO Box 325 KEW VICTORIA 3101 AUSTRALIA We accept Mastercard and Visa. Please advise card number, ccv number, expiry date, and name as it appears on your card. Payment is due on receipt of books. Customers not known to us may be sent a pro forma invoice. Any item may be returned within five days of receipt if we are notified immediately. Normal trade courtesies are observed where a reciprocal arrangement exists. Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers Printed, typeset and bound in Australia for New Century Antiquarian Books. Copyright © Jonathan Wantrup 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication my be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of New Century Antiquarian Books. NEW CENTURY ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS THE CHARLES WATT COLLECTION First Part Australian Modern First Editions P.O.
    [Show full text]
  • Embargoed 23.5.18 MFLA Longlist Announcement MR
    Three past winners make the esteemed Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist, revealed by Perpetual EMBARGOED Wednesday, 23 May 2018: Three former winners of the Miles Franklin Literary Award have been named on the 2018 Longlist. Peter Carey, Michelle de Kretser and Kim Scott are joined by eight other established authors, all of whom have received numerous literary accolades throughout their careers, making the 2018 longlist a remarkable collection of Australian stories. Perpetual, the trustee of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, today announced eleven authors will be competing for the rich literary prize of $60,000, arguably the most prestigious literary accolade in Australia. The Miles Franklin Literary Award was established through the will of My Brilliant Career author, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. Patrick White, the first winner of Australia’s most prestigious literature prize was crowned in 1957 with Voss, and since then the Miles Franklin Literary Award has presented more than $1.1 million to Australian authors. The Award shines light on some of Australia’s most talented writers, and while the prize has been given to a truly wide scope of novels, it has always remained true to the terms of Miles Franklin’s will; to be of the highest literary merit and presenting Australian life in any phase. The 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist is: Author Novel Publisher Peter Carey A Long Way from Home Penguin Random House Felicity Castagna No More Boats Giramondo Publishing Michelle de Kretser The Life to Come Allen & Unwin Lia
    [Show full text]
  • THEA ASTLEY a BIBLIOGRAPHY Compiled by Ross Smith And
    THEA ASTLEY A BIBLIOGRAPHY Compiled by Ross Smith and Cheryl Frost I. PUBLICATIONS A. EDITIONS Novels Girl with a monkey. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1958; Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, 1977. A descant for gossips. London, Angus & Robertson, 1960; Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1960; Brisbane, Jacaranda Press, 1968. The well dressed explorer. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1962; Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, 1977. [Joint winner of the Miles Franklin award for 1962.] The slow natives. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1965; London, Angus & Robertson, 1966; Melbourne, Sun Books, 1966; New York, M. Evans, 1967; Sydney, Angus & Robertson, Classics Edition, 1976. [Winner of the Miles Franklin award for 1965, and the Moomba award.] A boat load of home folk. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1968; Ringwood Victoria, Penguin, 1983. The acolyte. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1972; Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1980. [Winner of the Miles Franklin award for 1972.] A kindness cup. Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, 1974. 87 8. An item from the late news. St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1982. Short Stories 9 Hunting the wild pineapple and other related stories. Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, 1979; Rmgwood Victoria, Penguin, 1981. Criticism Three Australian writers: essays on Bruce Dawe, Barbara Baynton and Patrick White. Townsville, Foun- dation for Australian Literary Studies, 1979. Editing Coast to coast: Australian stories, 1969-70. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1970. B. SHORT STORIES, POEMS, ARTICLES, REVIEWS Poetic Lire [critical article]. BARJAI 13, March 1944, 6-7. From Troy [poem]. BARJAI 13, March 1944, 12. To H.; Saturday night [poems]. BARJAI 14, May 1944, 3. "Look!" sang the boy [poem]. BARJAI 15, July 1944, 12. Creation [poem; won guinea prize donated by James Devaney for BARJAI competition].
    [Show full text]
  • Thea Astley: Writing in Overpoweringly a Male Dominated Literary World
    IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 1 Thea Astley: Writing in Overpoweringly a Male Dominated Literary World - Megha Trivedi Thea Astley, a distinguished writer in Australian literature has received many awards for her fourteen novels and two collections of short stories. She has emerged as the most prominent woman writer in Australia in spite of the fact that she never received noteworthy attention. Astley has been awarded Miles Franklin Award- the most prestigious award for fiction for four times and has also earned the most outstanding Patrick White Award for the ‘Life time Achievement in Literature’ in the year 1989. Born in Brisbane in 1925, she was educated at All Hallows Convent and at the University of Queensland. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Queensland. She worked as a teacher for many years. She explained, “What else was there for an adult female Arts graduate just post-war to do but teach?” (Astley 4) She has also taught at Macquarie University in Sydney. She started writing while studying for her Bachelor of Arts at Queensland University but serious writing started at Queensland Country town as a lonely teenaged teacher. She has attacked the philistinism and double standards of middle class small town life in many of his works. This paper is an attempt to explore different themes in the novels of Thea Astley. Her novels include Girl with a Monkey (1958), A Descant for Gossips (1960), The Well Dressed Explorer (1962), The Slow Natives (1965), A Boat of Home Folk (1968), The Acolyte (1972), A Kindness Cup (1974), An Item from the late News (1982), Beach Masters (1985), Reaching Twin Rivers (1989) Slow Nature (1990) and many more.
    [Show full text]