Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 'Prize Motivations' : A Surprising New Short Story Collection
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Laura Elvery’s second short story collection, Ordinary Matter, shows the same talent for precise observation, pathos, and humour as her accomplished début collection, Trick of the Light (2018). It differs in its creation of a greater range of narrators and voices, and in its use of a specific ideological framework through which to unify the collection: each of its twenty stories is prefaced by the name of a Nobel Prize-winning female scientist and the ‘prize motivation’ for her award. This device might be read as subverting the sexist stereotype that, denying women the capacity for rational thought, consigns them to the ‘softer’ realms of emotion and artistic endeavour. It also encourages an interesting way of thinking about female desire as it pertains to a range of experiences, including creativity, ambition, motherhood, sexuality, and political activism.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 424 September 2020 20050114 2020 periodical issue

    'Welcome to the September issue of ABR! Our cover story, written by well-known musician and musicologist Peter Tregear, concerns the plight of classical music in the age of Covid-19. Music – like theatre and opera and film – has been devastated (silenced almost) by new restrictions and social isolation. When the lockdown is over, what will be retrievable, and will the repertoire be fundamentally reshaped? Peter Rose, in a diary piece, worries about the new era of conformism and prohibition and asks, ‘What personal freedoms are being sacrificed along the way?’ Megan Clement is underwhelmed by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s new book on women and leadership. We publish Kate Middleton’s poignant essay ‘The Dolorimeter’, runner-up in the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize. And Don Anderson, Morag Fraser, and James Bradley review new novels by Kate Grenville, Amanda Lohrey, and David Mitchell, respectively.' (Publication abstract)

    2020
    pg. 35
Last amended 7 Sep 2020 08:18:07
35 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2020/september-2020-no-424/852-september-2020-no-424/6705-susan-midalia-reviews-ordinary-matter-by-laura-elvery 'Prize Motivations' : A Surprising New Short Story Collectionsmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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