image of person or book cover 9044113401956589648.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Oyster single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1996... 1996 Oyster
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Outer Maroo, a small opal mining town in the Australian outback, is stewing in heat, drought, and guilty anxiety. Some ghastly cataclysm has occurred on the opal fields, but this is a taboo subject. When, from time to time, strangers arrive looking for missing children, they mysteriously disappear. Until the day two strangers, on the trail of a missing son and a daughter, refuse to succumb to accidents. The repressed secrets begin to dislodge themselves. Once the walls against the past begin to come down, nothing can stop the avalanche. And at the heart of this mystery is the cult Messiah, Oyster, dressed in white, sexually compelling, and preaching the end of time.

Notes

  • Sound recording, braille and large print editions available
  • This book appeared on the New York Times' "Editors' Choice" and Notable Books List ; and was a finalist for the Trillium Award in Canada.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Virago ,
      1996 .
      image of person or book cover 9044113401956589648.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 402p.
      Description: bibl.
      Note/s:
      • Epigraph: 'We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another' - Jonathan Swift.
      ISBN: 1860491235
    • Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Knopf , 1996 .
      image of person or book cover 2152800480503739488.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 402p.
      ISBN: 0091833124, 9780091833121
    • Toronto, Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Knopf ,
      1996 .
      image of person or book cover 1403417933069855679.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 402p.
      ISBN: 0676970141, 9780676970142
    • Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Random House Australia , 1997 .
      image of person or book cover 7521176563699742625.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 434p.
      ISBN: 0091835089, 9780091835088
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Virago ,
      1997 .
      image of person or book cover 5390053910783009062.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 453p.
      ISBN: 1860491634 (pbk.), 9781860491634
    • Toronto, Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Vintage Canada ,
      1997 .
      image of person or book cover 2017625116996011687.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 402p.
      Edition info: 1st Vintage Canada edition.
      ISBN: 0676970311, 9780676970319
    • New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      W. W. Norton ,
      1998 .
      image of person or book cover 6329558513112654760.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 400p.
      Edition info: 1st American ed
      ISBN: 0393046184, 9780393046182
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      W. W. Norton ,
      1999 .
      image of person or book cover 7520072455772680554.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 400p.
      ISBN: 0393319369 (pbk), 9780393319361
    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2005 .
      image of person or book cover 7151459506194486245.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 435, 17p.p.
      Description: illus., port.
      Note/s:
      • Bibliography : p. 435.
      ISBN: 0732281873, 9780732281878
Alternative title: Oyster : Roman
Language: German
    • c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      DuMont Buchverlag ,
      1999 .
      image of person or book cover 5708156475566400458.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 413p.
      ISBN: 3770146026, 9783770146024

Works about this Work

Trauma, Aboriginality and Revisionary Imaginings in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster Jenna-Lee Lynn , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 47 no. 1 2023; (p. 142-159)

'This article examines how Aboriginal conceptions of time and space in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster affect representations of personal, cultural and ecological trauma through privileging sites of wounding that embody Country. The four elements of air, water, earth and fire are central to understanding how each text navigates the complex relational matrices of Aboriginal traumas and respond to ongoing issues of genocide and dispossession that are part of Australia’s tragic history. Elemental energies in these novels are connected to powerful spaces that pain inhabits and moves through, providing insights into the significance of their engagement with Aboriginality and trauma, particularly when situated within the context of legislature including the Native Title Act of 1993 and the Wik decision of 1996. Elemental motifs perform a cyclical function that begins with deep connectedness to oceanic imagery in Carpentaria, then transitions to trauma inflicted on Country and culminates in a cathartic watery Armageddon. While Oyster’s consideration of elemental traumatic space is primarily attributed to land, cartography and wounded bodies, the novel’s narrative threads reach a similar apocalyptic denouement. Oyster’s cataclysmic fires of destruction are eclipsed by the regenerative potencies of water that rejuvenate Country and supplant horror with beauty.' (Publication abstract) 

Uncertain Seasons in the El Niño Continent : Local and Global Views Libby Robin , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Anglica : An International Journal of English Studies , vol. 28 no. 3 2019; (p. 7-19)

'As global climate change shifts seasonal patterns, local and uncertain seasons of Australia have global relevance. Australia’s literature tracks extreme local weather events, exploring ‘slow catastrophes’ and ‘endurance.’ Humanists can change public policy in times when stress is a state of life, by reflecting on the psyches of individuals, rather than the patterns of the state. ‘Probable’ futures, generated by mathematical models that predict nature and economics, have little to say about living with extreme weather. Hope is not easily modelled. The frameworks that enable hopeful futures are qualitatively different. They can explore the unimaginable by offering an ‘interior apprehension.’' (Publication abstract)

y separately published work icon Contemporary Australian Novels and Crises of Ecologies David S. Harris , Melbourne : 2017 17217106 2017 single work thesis This thesis argues that literature can cultivate our sensuous attunement to ecological crises and enhance our powers of living amid these crises. These literary potentials are confirmed in studies of novels by Alexis Wright, Janette Turner Hospital and Tim Winton.
Due Preparations for Paradise : or, The Plague Now According to Hany Abu-Assad and Janette Turner Hospital Helga Ramsey-Kurz , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Engaging with Literature of Commitment : The Worldly Scholar (Volume 2) 2012; (p. 217-230)
Inside Out in the Land Down Under : Reading Trauma through Janette Turner Hospital's Oyster Isabel Fraile , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Splintered Glass : Facets of Trauma in the Post-Colony and Beyond 2011; (p. 221-243)
Isabel Fraile claims that 'While a thoroughly enjoyable and gripping experience, reading Janette Turner Hospital's Oyster (1996) often manages to feel, at the same time, like reading a handbook of trauma theory.' (p 221)
This Microcosm Is Her 'Oyster' Anne Steacy , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Books in Canada , December vol. 25 no. 9 1996; (p. 20-21)

— Review of Oyster Janette Turner Hospital , 1996 single work novel
Some Local Dantes Judith Armstrong , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 147 1997; (p. 83-85)

— Review of The Conversations at Curlow Creek David Malouf , 1996 single work novel ; Highways to a War Christopher Koch , 1995 single work novel ; Keep It Simple, Stupid Peter Goldsworthy , 1996 single work novel ; The Island in the Mind Rodney Hall , 1996 selected work novel ; The Drowner Robert Drewe , 1996 single work novel ; Oyster Janette Turner Hospital , 1996 single work novel
In the Back of the Outback Markman Ellis , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 13 September no. 4876 1996; (p. 22)

— Review of Oyster Janette Turner Hospital , 1996 single work novel
Apocalyptic Visions Burning Bright but Fading Too Soon Cassandra Pybus , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 22 September 1996; (p. 8)

— Review of Oyster Janette Turner Hospital , 1996 single work novel
Intrigue in the Australian Bush Graham Nowland , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21 September 1996; (p. wkd 7)

— Review of Oyster Janette Turner Hospital , 1996 single work novel
'Just Enough Religion to Make Us Hate': The Case of Tourmaline and Oyster Richard Scott Carr , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 18 no. 1 2004; (p. 9-15)
Carr asserts that 'Stow and Hospital use fiction to explore the devestation wrought on a community whose long-suppressed spiritual desires find their outlet in the perverse and destructive.' He contends that 'the residents of Tourmaline and Outer Maroo, in refusing to address their alienation from their environment and themselves, ensure the disaster that closes both novels.'
Words of Water : Reading Otherness in Tourmaline and Oyster Bernadette Brennan , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 3 no. 2004; (p. 143-157)
Triangulating the Self : Turner Hospital, Hoffman and Sante Russell West-Pavlov , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Transcultural Graffiti : Diasporic Writing and the Teaching of Literary Studies 2005; (p. 115-136)
The Many Circles of Hell: Dante's Legacy in Janette Turner Hospital's Literary Thrillers Tully Barnett , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Flinders Dante Conferences 2002 & 2004 2005; (p. 190-199)
Literature in the Arid Zone Tom Lynch , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Littoral Zone : Australian Contexts and Their Writers 2007; (p. 70-92)
This chapter surveys and assesses from an ecocentric perspective some representative literary portrayals of the Australian deserts. Generally, it contrasts works that portray the desert as an alien, hostile, and undifferentiated void with works that recognise and value the biological particularities of specific desert places. It explores the literature of three dominant cultural orientations to the deserts: pastoralism, mining, and traversal. It concludes with a consideration of several multi-voiced and/or multi-genred bioregionally informed works that suggests fruitful directions for more ecocentric literary approaches. (abstract taken from The Littoral Zone)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:53:08
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