Alternative title: James Ley Reviews 'The Trials of Portnoy' by Patrick Mullins
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 Unsolicited Smut : A Nation of Prudes and Wowsers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Okay, I’ll tell you what’s wrong with this country. For a start, we have this profoundly stupid and deeply irritating myth that we’re all irreverent freedom-loving larrikins and easygoing egalitarians, when it is painfully obvious that we have long been a nation of prudes and wowsers, that our collective psyche has been warped by what Patrick Mullins describes, with his characteristic lucidity, as ‘a fear of contaminating international influences’, and that we are not just an insular, conservative, and deeply conformist society, but for some unaccountable reason we take pride in our ignorance and parochialism. And let’s not neglect the fact that we are cringingly deferential and enamoured of hierarchy...' (Introduction)

Notes

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 422 June-July 2020 19498355 2020 periodical issue

    'Our winter double issue features two superb meditations on family, gender, mourning and becoming. Yves Rees is the winner of this year's Calibre Essay Prize. 'Reading the Mess Backwards' is a story of trans becoming that digs into the messiness of bodies, gender and identity. ABR Rising Star Sarah Walker writes beautifully about losing her mother and the difficulties of commemoration during a pandemic. James Ley has a virtuoso pastiche of Philip Roth in his review of the Portnoy trials. Sophie Cunningham reviews Richard Cooke's book on Robyn Davidson. Plus poems by Gwen Harwood, Jaya Savige, and Stephen Edgar – and much more!' (Publication summary)

    2020
    pg. 17
      2020 .
      Extent: 07:08 minp.
      Note/s:
      • Posted July 8, 2020
      Series: y separately published work icon The ABR Podcast 2020 Southbank : Australian Book Review, Inc. , 2020 26765067 2020 website podcast Number in series: 23
Last amended 3 May 2024 08:38:27
17 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2020/june-july-2020-no-422/810-june-july-2020-no-422/6489-james-ley-reviews-the-trials-of-portnoy-how-penguin-brought-down-australia-s-censorship-system-by-patrick-mullins Unsolicited Smut : A Nation of Prudes and Wowserssmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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