image of person or book cover 5872079829324534041.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon Alfonso single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2013... 2013 Alfonso
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Alfonso is a short novel set in Sydney between 1962 and 1971. The protagonist is a man from the northwest of Spain who migrates to Australia to escape poverty. When he arrives in Australia he confronts language problems, homesickness and isolation. He works as a carpenter and eventually buys an old house in Surry Hills, unaware of the cost and commitment associated with old houses and feuding neighbours. When the house is finished he meets a woman and they fall in love, but the woman leaves for England. The story then traces his search for love and in the process he finds a way to belong in his new country. More than a love story, this is a novella about the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.'

Source: Author's blog (http://ahatfulofcherries.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/alfonso.html). (Sighted: 31/1/2014)

Notes

  • Dedication:

    For my Grandchildren

    Isabella, Sebastian, Julia, Roman, and Lucia

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Kew, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Australian Scholarly Publishing , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 5872079829324534041.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 120pp.p.
      Reprinted: 2015 , 2018
      Note/s:
      • Published in December 2013.
      ISBN: 9781925003208
      Series: y separately published work icon Press On Arcadia (publisher), Melbourne : Arcadia , 2009-2015 Z1824488 2009 series - publisher novel 'Press On is published in partnership with Arcadia. In 2010, four Press On books were published by Press On Publishing in association with Arcadia, the general books' imprint of Australian Scholarly Publishing. Authors Michael Wilding, Peter Corris, Phillip Edmonds and Inez Baranay began the first batch of Press On. Commissioned by Michael Wilding, eight more books join the series with new authors Morris Lurie, Garry Disher, Ross Fitzgerald, Trevor Jordan and Victoria Thompson. Felix Calvino's previously published A Hatful of Cherries Arcadia, 2009 has also taken on the Press On logo. Arcadia's 2011 Press On additions were launched at the Melbourne Writers Festival this year.' Source: www.scholarly.info/ (Sighted 15/11/2011). Number in series: 20

Works about this Work

In the Quiet Company of a Dreamer Jennifer Popa , 2016 single work single work essay
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 30 no. 1 2016; (p. 230-231)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel

'The four walls he had washed and painted twice as a gesture of friendship would have captured, as a mirror would, his frustration at trying to sew on a button, or trying not to scorch a new shirt; his clumsy attempts at cooking dinner with half of the ingredients missing until he trained himself to write a shopping list before going shopping; his relentless learning and relearning of English words; his chores of washing, cleaning, daily bed-making, and weekly changing of the bed sheets. (33) For the reader, the tangible objects in Alfonso's home take center stage: the carrots and potatoes he is cooking for dinner, the cabinets he restores, and the telephone that does not ring.' (Publication abstract)

Viaxes Literarias E Culturais Entre Galicia E Australia María Jesús Lorenzo Modia , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Rosendo Salvado Eo Aborixe of Australia 2015; (p. 209-228)
What You're Reading : Alfonso Natalie Repetto , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Good Reading , October 2014; (p. 72)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
What You're Reading : Alfonso Jill Lindquist , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Good Reading , May 2014; (p. 72)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
Review : Alfonso Patrick Holland , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 51)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
Review : Alfonso Patrick Holland , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 51)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
What You're Reading : Alfonso Jill Lindquist , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Good Reading , May 2014; (p. 72)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
What You're Reading : Alfonso Natalie Repetto , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Good Reading , October 2014; (p. 72)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel
In the Quiet Company of a Dreamer Jennifer Popa , 2016 single work single work essay
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 30 no. 1 2016; (p. 230-231)

— Review of Alfonso Félix Calviño , 2013 single work novel

'The four walls he had washed and painted twice as a gesture of friendship would have captured, as a mirror would, his frustration at trying to sew on a button, or trying not to scorch a new shirt; his clumsy attempts at cooking dinner with half of the ingredients missing until he trained himself to write a shopping list before going shopping; his relentless learning and relearning of English words; his chores of washing, cleaning, daily bed-making, and weekly changing of the bed sheets. (33) For the reader, the tangible objects in Alfonso's home take center stage: the carrots and potatoes he is cooking for dinner, the cabinets he restores, and the telephone that does not ring.' (Publication abstract)

Viaxes Literarias E Culturais Entre Galicia E Australia María Jesús Lorenzo Modia , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Rosendo Salvado Eo Aborixe of Australia 2015; (p. 209-228)
Last amended 1 Feb 2018 07:30:46
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