'This chapter analyses Carey’s fiction and author-persona in relation to the aesthetic and sociological developments in the increasingly globalising literary marketplace of the 1980s and 1990s. In the previous chapter, I demonstrated that Carey’s entrance into the literary field as the most successful Australian short story writer of his generation was facilitated by developments such as University of Queensland Press’ (UQP) progress as a major publisher of Australian fiction, the establishment of the Literature Board, the ending of the Traditional Markets Agreement, and the rise of the countercultural literary magazine in Australia. In this chapter, Carey’s celebrity in the 1980s and the 1990s will be examined in relation to the politics of literary prizes, the prominence of postcolonial critique, and the changing politics of authorial promotion in the publishing industry.' (Publication abstract)