Sue Bond Sue Bond i(A30226 works by) (a.k.a. Susan Lydia Bond)
Born: Established: 1965 Wellington, Wellington (Region), North Island,
c
New Zealand,
c
Pacific Region,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1974
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Works By

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1 Troubling the Life Narrative: the Case of Binjamin Wilkomirski’s Fragments : Memories of a Childhood, 1939–1948 Sue Bond , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 50 2018;

'Binjamin Wilkomirski’s Fragments: Memories of a childhood, 1939–1948 was first published in 1995 in Germany, and in English translation in 1996. It purported to be a Holocaust memoir: the author wrote of his experiences as a six year old in concentration camps in Poland. Doubts were raised as to its authenticity, and eventually the memoir was revealed to be a ‘hoax’. Wilkomirski (whose actual name was Bruno Grosjean at birth) had been given up for adoption by his mother, who was poor and the victim of an accident that left her with brain injuries. I argue that the author of Fragments could not find a sense of identity or belonging as an adoptee, but did as a Holocaust survivor, and through a long and complex process he came to produce a narrative that explained his life as he saw it. I discuss the case in detail to build a picture of Wilkomirski as an adopted person rather than a literary hoaxer, and utilise the work of Betty Jean Lifton, who postulated that the damage done to him in childhood reverberated through the years into his adult life. A discussion of trauma (and trauma theories), as it relates to adopted persons and their life narratives, and the Divided Self theory adapted by Betty Jean Lifton and Jo Sparrow, are employed in providing a reading of Fragments as a troubled adoptee memoir, one that is embedded within the ‘false’ or ‘hoax’ memoir of Holocaust survival.' (Publication abstract)

1 Speaking through the Things of Their Lives : Writing a Memoir with My Parents’ Melancholy Objects Sue Bond , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 45 2017;

'In the process of writing my memoir about living with my adoptive parents, I have had to reconstruct their lives through the objects and things that they left behind. Our communication as a family – I was an only child – was fractured, difficult, sometimes non-existent. They kept secrets and spoke little about certain key aspects of their lives so that I knew little about them; this became clear after the death of my adoptive mother in 2001, when I discovered letters, documents, and a series of other objects that not only filled in gaps about their lives, but also told new stories. The photograph has been referred to as a ‘melancholy object’ by both Barthes and Sontag, and discussed as such by Gibson, and there is a photo of my parents in the 1950s, laughing together on their motor-boat, for which this description resonates. It is both my favourite image of them and an impossible contradiction, as I knew them only long after that time, when things had become more difficult, the boat had gone, and with it, seemingly, their happiness. This paper will discuss the use of such objects in the writing of memoir, with reference to my own experience and that of other adoptees in writing memoir.'  (Publication abstract)

1 Nicolas Rothwell, Quicksilver Sue Bond , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , May vol. 9 no. 2 2017;
1 Beyond Tragic Sue Bond , 2017 single work essay review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 388 2017; (p. 61)

'This book is likely to anger many readers. Saltwater is about Cathy McLennan’s time as a barrister for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service on Palm Island and in Townsville in the 1990s. Aged twenty-two and faced with a heavy workload, she was confronted with heartbreaking cases of violence, trauma, and neglect. Other lawyers in the office came and went, but the Aboriginal field officers remained constant. Throughout, there are reminders that Palm Island is a beautiful place with forests and crystalline water, despite its being referred to as ‘the most violent place on earth outside a war zone’.'

(Introduction)

1 In the Best Interests of the Child Sue Bond , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Women’s Book Review , vol. 27 no. 1 / 2 2015-2016; (p. 34-39)
'On 21 March 2013, the then Prime Minister Julia Gillard made the National Apology for Forced Adoptions at Parliament House in Canberra. It was a comprehensive statement to the mothers, fathers, and children who were affected by the policies and practices of decades past, when women who were pregnant outside of marriage were sometimes “encouraged,” shamed, cajoled, or blackmailed by social workers, medical staff, religious people or other authorities into signing away their baby or babies. Couples who were unable to have their children “naturally” because of infertility received these babies and brought them up as if they were their own. Some told their children they had been adopted and some did not; the advice varied according to the time and place and institution. The mothers were often told to “get on with their lives” as if no baby had been born to them.' (Introduction)
1 Fiction Sue Bond , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 - 4 November 2012; (p. 22)

— Review of Mazin' Grace Dylan Coleman , 2011 single work novel
1 Untitled Sue Bond , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , April/May vol. 91 no. 8 2012; (p. 26)

— Review of The Lost Woman Sydney Smith , 2012 single work autobiography
1 [Review] A History of Books Sue Bond , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 9 June 2012; (p. 22)

— Review of A History of Books Gerald Murnane , 2012 selected work short story
1 Untitled Sue Bond , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21-22 April 2012; (p. 22)

— Review of A Medical Emergency : Major-General 'Ginger' Burston and the Army Medical Service in World War II Ian Howie-Willis , 2012 single work biography
1 Fiction Sue Bond , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 4 - 5 February 2012; (p. 22)

— Review of Currawalli Street Christopher Morgan , 2012 single work novel
1 Southerly Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Programs , October vol. 15 no. 2 2011;

— Review of Southerly vol. 71 no. 1 2011 periodical issue
1 Fiction Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 15 - 16 October 2011; (p. 22)

— Review of Lettah's Gift Graham Lang , 2011 single work novel
1 [Review] Gatherers and Hunters : Stories Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , May vol. 3 no. 2 2011;

— Review of Gatherers and Hunters : Stories Thomas Shapcott , 2010 selected work short story novella
1 Fiction Reviews Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 - 15 May 2011; (p. 24)

— Review of Past the Shallows Favel Parrett , 2011 single work novel
1 Untitled Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , March vol. 90 no. 6 2011; (p. 33)

— Review of Gone Jennifer Mills , 2011 single work novel
1 Fiction Reviews Sue Bond , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 1 - 2 January 2011; (p. 18)

— Review of Seer of Sevenwaters Juliet Marillier , 2010 single work novel
1 Review Sue Bond , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 4 - 5 December 2010; (p. 24)

— Review of Sharp Turn Marianne Delacourt , 2010 single work novel
1 Swimming for Her Life Sue Bond , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 14 no. 2 2010;

— Review of Swimming : A Novel Enza Gandolfo , 2004 single work novel
1 Review : Fiction Sue Bond , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 - 14 November 2010; (p. 22)

— Review of How It Feels Brendan Cowell , 2010 single work novel
1 Untitled Sue Bond , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 3 no. 1 2010;

— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers Ramona Koval , 2005 selected work interview
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