image of person or book cover 1669967110577537498.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Theory & Practice single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2024... 2024 Theory & Practice
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'It’s 1986, and ‘beautiful, radical ideas’ are in the air. A young woman arrives in Melbourne to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students—and Kit. He claims to be in a ‘deconstructed’ relationship, and they become lovers. Meanwhile, her work on the Woolfmother falls into disarray.

'Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.

'Michelle de Kretser, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 1669967110577537498.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 192p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 29 October 2024.
      ISBN: 9781923058149
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sort of Books ,
      2025 .
      image of person or book cover 6803830612974516794.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 192p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 27 February 2025.
      ISBN: 9781914502163
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Catapult Press ,
      2025 .
      image of person or book cover 3430280367856721054.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 192p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 18 February 2025.
      ISBN: 9781646222872
Form: audiobook
    • Leicester, Leicestershire,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Wavesound ,
      2024 .
      image of person or book cover 5315812890103903281.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Audible
      Extent: 4 hrs and 37 minsp.
      Note/s:
      • Published 29 October 2024

Works about this Work

Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser Review – What Should a Novel Look Like? Jack Callil , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 22 November 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'The Miles Franklin winner’s most experimental book yet opens as fiction interrupted by a narrator who starts picking apart her life and feelings about writing'

Michelle de Kretser : Theory & Practice Felicity Plunkett , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 9-15 November 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'“Who will write the history of tears?” The narrator of Michelle de Kretser’s seventh novel returns to this question from Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse (1977). Named once fleetingly, she is a writer, glancing back to growing up in Sri Lanka before her family migrated to Sydney, then reflecting on living in Melbourne to write a thesis on Virginia Woolf. Though her Sydney boyfriend has betrayed her, desire remains as central to her attention as the question of what a novel can do.' (Introduction)   

Resisting the Woolfmother Innovations with Fiction, Memoir, and the Essay Nicole Abadee , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 470 2024; (p. 33-34)

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel
The Best New Books Released in October, from an Exploration of the Past by Michelle de Kretser to Brian Castro's 11th Novel Kate Evans , Claire Nichols , Sarah L'Estrange , Declan Fry , Nicola Heath , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , October 2024;

— Review of The Burrow Melanie Cheng , 2024 single work novel ; Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel ; Dusk Robbie Arnott , 2024 single work novel ; Chinese Postman Brian Castro , 2024 single work novel ; Rapture Emily Maguire , 2024 single work novel
Michelle de Kretser Writes Back to the ‘Woolfmother’ in Theory & Practice Eda Gunaydin , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 31 October 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'The narrator of Michelle de Kretser’s seventh novel Theory & Practice is younger than I was when she realises something we all do, eventually: sometimes there can be a great chasm between what we say, write, and purport to know and believe, and what we do.'  (Introduction)

Michelle de Kretser Writes Back to the ‘Woolfmother’ in Theory & Practice Eda Gunaydin , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 31 October 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'The narrator of Michelle de Kretser’s seventh novel Theory & Practice is younger than I was when she realises something we all do, eventually: sometimes there can be a great chasm between what we say, write, and purport to know and believe, and what we do.'  (Introduction)

The Best New Books Released in October, from an Exploration of the Past by Michelle de Kretser to Brian Castro's 11th Novel Kate Evans , Claire Nichols , Sarah L'Estrange , Declan Fry , Nicola Heath , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , October 2024;

— Review of The Burrow Melanie Cheng , 2024 single work novel ; Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel ; Dusk Robbie Arnott , 2024 single work novel ; Chinese Postman Brian Castro , 2024 single work novel ; Rapture Emily Maguire , 2024 single work novel
Resisting the Woolfmother Innovations with Fiction, Memoir, and the Essay Nicole Abadee , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 470 2024; (p. 33-34)

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel
Michelle de Kretser : Theory & Practice Felicity Plunkett , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 9-15 November 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'“Who will write the history of tears?” The narrator of Michelle de Kretser’s seventh novel returns to this question from Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse (1977). Named once fleetingly, she is a writer, glancing back to growing up in Sri Lanka before her family migrated to Sydney, then reflecting on living in Melbourne to write a thesis on Virginia Woolf. Though her Sydney boyfriend has betrayed her, desire remains as central to her attention as the question of what a novel can do.' (Introduction)   

Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser Review – What Should a Novel Look Like? Jack Callil , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 22 November 2024;

— Review of Theory & Practice Michelle De Kretser , 2024 single work novel

'The Miles Franklin winner’s most experimental book yet opens as fiction interrupted by a narrator who starts picking apart her life and feelings about writing'

Last amended 11 Oct 2024 07:58:20
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