Jan Gross Jan Gross i(A90793 works by)
Gender: Female
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1 1 y separately published work icon Jam Dreaming Jan Gross , Glen Waverley : Sid Harta Publishers , 2011 Z1806940 2011 single work novel 'From St Kilda to Naples, a tale of food and self-discovery. When fifteen year old Eileen meets Mama Jocsdi, the owner of a specialty food shop, she realises she wants to learn more about her own culture and to find a purpose in life. This leads her on an incredible journey of self discovery as she meets a number of interesting people on her way who all leave an impact on Eileen's life. Can Eileen prove to herself and Mama that she is capable of more responsibility?

'There are colourful tales of bats in the Botanical Gardens to a down and out white footballer who redeems himself with a local Aboriginal team and the hilarious reminisces of a shearers' cook.Descriptions of food from Eastern Europe, indigenous Australians as well as confections from seventeenth century Naples show the many ways food impacts on our lives and in some situations bring the most unlikely people together.' (From the publisher's website.)
1 y separately published work icon Journey Around My Family Jan Gross , Glen Waverley : Sid Harta Publishers , 2010 Z1858215 2010 single work autobiography

'The story encompasses two journeys undertaken by the author. Firstly, the narrator travels in Tasmania by car shortly after the death of her husband. Her family and friends generally disapprove of her departure so soon after his funeral. Gradually as she travels round, her memories of Reg intrude on the day's events, as well as her observations of the locals. Nor can she escape from the heat of her family that rains down on her in the form of letters and phone calls.

The denial and forgetting by Tasmanians of much of their history becomes a metaphor for her own attempts at denial and forgetting as well as the gaps in her sightseeing. The narrator tells of things forgotten; forgotten animals, the Tasmanian Tiger, forgotten people, the explorer Borchgrevink, forgotten sports, the game of Trugo. As well as the main island of Tasmania, she visits Maria Island and Bruny Island. Why the narrator's passion for islands? Are they a symbol of her own sense of isolation? The story of her travels is interspersed with her own fictions.

These Tasmanian travels are interspersed with memoirs of a visit alone to Western Australia years before. Here she attempts to trace the histories of her parents and grandparents. Once again there are gaps, in the revelations about her grandfather, absences from court archives and from death records. Is one of her great uncles pictured in a photograph of a West Australian battalion about to embark for Gallipoli? Has her father read the book called In Darkest Western Australia purchased from the bookshop at the Perth Art Gallery? From this he would have learned many interesting facts about Aborigines. Sadly these gaps in both journeys continue to haunt the narrator's life and perhaps give the reader pause for thought about his or her own history.' Source: http://sidharta.com (Sighted 03/05/2012).

1 Variations on a Theme of Franz Kafka Jan Gross , 2005 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 64 no. 3 2005; (p. 21-25)
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