Lauren O’Mahony Lauren O’Mahony i(7899190 works by)
Gender: Female
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1 From Polite Society to the Pilbara : The Ingénue Abroad in Evelina and The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots Lauren O’Mahony , Olivia Murphy , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Outskirts : Feminisms along the Edge , May no. 38 2018;

'The romance novel—persistently at once one of the most popularly successful genres from the eighteenth century to today, and one of the least critically respected—demonstrates surprising consistencies, and a habitual attention to gender politics that reflect the gendered assumptions and aspirations of the societies out of which it emerges. This paper explores the commonalities between two novels that, despite being produced in different times and places, nevertheless when read together share distinct concerns and tropes, often to a surprising extent. By reading Frances Burney’s Evelina (1778) and Loretta Hill’s The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots (2012), and paying close attention to their similarities and differences, this paper demonstrates continuities of convention over more than two centuries. Both novels take young, inexperienced women for their heroines, and through them introduce their readers to daily life in specific, closed communities: respectively, fashionable London of the late-eighteenth-century “Season”, and the fly-in, fly-out mining society of the West Australian Pilbara region. In this study of two novels, one published in Georgian England, and the other in early twenty-first-century Australia, it is possible to recognise the ways in which such fictions are capable of idealising, reproducing and reinforcing gendered stereotypes, and at the same time of revealing the oppressive effects of such stereotypes on the imagined lives of men and women.' (Introduction)

1 Introduction : Gender and the Everyday : Contemporary Communication Culture, and Media Kyra Clarke , Rob Cover , Lauren O’Mahony , Debbie Rodan , Michele Willson , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Outskirts : Feminisms along the Edge , May no. 38 2018;

'Communication, culture and media are embedded in our everyday lives in ways we are often unaware of. Whether we wake up and reach for our phone or think carefully about how to phrase a difficult sentence in an email, these multiple forms of communication, culture and media are embedded in our everyday. At conception and the first ultrasound image, a gender designation is ascribed that affects our everyday lives in innumerable ways – from the toys we are given, to sports that we play, to conceptions of self and the life choices available to us. Our gender inflects our everyday experiences and engagements with our bodies and those around us, and this becomes more and more evident as we manoeuvre into public, private and digital spaces. This special issue shares a handful of the papers initially presented at the “Gender and the Everyday: Contemporary Communication, Culture and Media” conference hosted by The Western Australian Communication, Culture and Media group (WACCM) and held at Murdoch University in September 2017.' (Introduction)

1 Death and the Australian Rural Romance Novel Lauren O’Mahony , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 45 2017;

'In A Natural History of the Romance Novel (2003), Pamela Regis argues that all romance novels have eight essential elements including one she terms the ‘point of ritual death’. This is a moment when the heroine and hero seem unlikely to overcome the real or imagined obstacles preventing their ‘happily ever after’. While the ‘point of ritual death’ can be literal or metaphorical, romance novels traditionally opt for symbolic forms of death such as illness, failing or unsuccessful relationships, or brushes with real death for the heroine or other characters. Representations of ritual death in Australian rural romance novels appear intense in a conspicuous way. In rural romances, ritual death frequently takes on deeper, darker forms arguably amplified by the rural setting. Death also occurs outside the ritual death scene; the death of a family member may serve as a story’s premise, a murder mystery may be entangled with the romantic plot or life and death may visit the rural characters at any time, especially where multi-generation families are concerned. This paper examines the representation of death in selected contemporary Australian rural romance novels published between 2002 and 2017. This article argues that literal and metaphorical representations of environmental, animal and human deaths appear in rural romances frequently and powerfully in various forms. Many rural romance novels fearlessly conjure existential realities that reinforce death as a vital part of the cycle of life.' (Publication abstract)

1 Writing Domestic Violence in Marian Keyes’ This Charming Man (2008) Lauren O’Mahony , Kathryn Trees , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 38 2017;
'Popular fiction for women has been variously criticised and derided for a focus on romance plots and superficial themes. Marian Keyes, a prolific author of contemporary women’s popular fiction, however, utilises romance to explore serious contemporary issues. This paper examines the representation of one of these serious issues, domestic violence, in Keyes’ novel This Charming Man (2008). The novel’s multi-story plot gradually weaves together the histories and experiences of four female protagonists from their individual points of view. Each protagonist has had a romantic involvement with one ‘charming man’, the rich and powerful Irish politician Paddy de Courcy. Chapters devoted to each woman are interspersed with short vignettes that recount moments of Paddy’s violent behaviour. The narrative organisation of This Charming Man represents domestic violence in a way that prioritises healing, physically, mentally and emotionally, for the protagonists through telling their stories and sharing those stories with other characters and readers. This form of creative writing prompts reader engagement and reflection. Such readerly engagement may increase awareness of this issue and potentially lead readers to actively seek change in their own lives.' (Introduction)
1 Australian Rural Romance As Feminist Romance? Lauren O’Mahony , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , September vol. 3 no. 3 2014; (p. 285-298)
'A short story originally published in 1900 by writer and poet Henry Lawson captured the perceived incompatibility of women and life in remote Australia with its refrain that the bush ‘was no place for a woman!’. The suggestion in Lawson’s story is that the bush could easily prove fatal to women and for men it could undo them, mentally and spiritually. Now at the start of the new millennium, many barriers to women living and working in rural Australia have been challenged or removed altogether. Yet, recent sociological research, such as that undertaken by Margaret Alston, argues that gender inequality is an ongoing problem in rural communities. For example, one persistent stereotype is that men undertake the meaningful work in rural life while women watch from the sidelines, simply ‘help’, or see their contribution downplayed or downright ignored. This article explores how a new breed of bestselling novels, variously dubbed ‘chook lit’ or ‘contemporary Australian rural romance’, use a romantic structure to represent gender inequality in a rural setting. The article draws examples from Jillaroo (Rachael Treasure, 2002), The Bark Cutters (Nicole Alexander, 2010) and North Star (Karly Lane, 2011) to show the varying approaches to the romance plot that construct gutsy heroines, depict important rural issues and leave readers with endings that, as in other romances, offer ‘a utopian projection which expresses a critical evaluation of the contemporary patriarchal order’ (Cranny-Francis 1990: 191). This article argues that contemporary Australian rural romances raise questions about the romance plot while critiquing aspects of gender inequality specific to the context. In turn, such novels may encourage and inspire female readers (if they so choose) to do more in rural life than sit on the fence watching the men.' (Publication abstract)
1 Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks? : Romance, Ethics and Human-Dog Relationships in a Rural Australian Novel Lauren O’Mahony , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Popular Romance Studies , vol. 4 no. 2 2014;

'Rachael Treasure is Australia’s most popular author in the mainstream rural romance genre. Her novels combine bush or agricultural landscapes with gutsy heroines who are keen to transcend the context’s sexist pecking order. This article focuses on the representation of working dogs, romance and the ethics plot in Treasure’s first novel, Jillaroo (2002). Dogs, particularly the heroine’s well trained kelpies, progress and hinder the novel’s romance; they play a central role in some of the romantic elements yet are conspicuously absent in others. Relationships between humans and dogs unlock the novel’s ethics plot. This plot emphasises certain behaviours and attitudes between humans and non-humans and aligns readers’ sympathies with particular characters while encouraging disidentification with others. Jillaroo’s heroine Rebecca Saunders and her dogs undertake typical farm jobs efficiently and economically thereby securing her entry into spaces usually reserved for men. Rebecca shows herself to be equal, if not superior, in action and knowledge to the men who populate such contexts. Dogs therefore assist in constructing Rebecca as an example of Sherri Inness’s ‘tough woman’, heroines who use their “body, attitude, action, and authority” (Inness 24) to challenge the dominance of male heroes in popular culture and disrupt gender roles and stereotypes. Dogs also complicate Rebecca’s gender construction by undercutting and disturbing her feminine gender performances. For the novel’s male characters, interactions with dogs indicate their mental health and their “interspecies competence” (Fudge 11). A close reading of the relationships between Jillaroo’s main characters and dogs reveals that the narrative endorses and rejects particular human-human, human-animal and human-environment behaviours, ultimately positioning readers to value the ethical treatment of others (human and non-human) and the environment. Overall, Jillaroo’s romance narrative and representation of working dogs emphasises contemporary gender, environmental and animal rights issues in rural Australia, imparting a vital lesson to readers about the ethical treatment of others.'

Source: Abstract.

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