The Last Days of a Famous Mime single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1979... 1979 The Last Days of a Famous Mime
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon War Crimes : Short Stories Peter Carey , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1979 Z285497 1979 selected work short story St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1979 pg. 50-56
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Fat Man in History Peter Carey , London : Faber , 1980 Z866366 1980 selected work short story London : Faber , 1980
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature Ken L. Goodwin (editor), Alan Lawson (editor), South Melbourne : Macmillan , 1990 Z535337 1990 anthology criticism correspondence extract poetry drama biography short story prose humour satire travel

    'Poems, stories, letters and extracts from novels, plays and journals present a great variety of responses to Australia and to the art of writing. Items have been arranged into 12 groupings that reflect different ways of seeing the material of Australian writing. Each section has its own introduction. Problems are explained, theories and contexts for a wider understanding are offered. The book includes biographical guides to all authors and a full chronological table of events in the literary history of Australia.'   (Publication summary)

    South Melbourne : Macmillan , 1990
    pg. 404-406
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Fat Man in History Peter Carey , London : Faber , 1980 Z866366 1980 selected work short story St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1990 pg. 135-139
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Short Stories Carmel Bird (editor), Wantirna South : Houghton Mifflin , 1991 Z195467 1991 anthology short story extract satire humour Wantirna South : Houghton Mifflin , 1991 pg. 26-30
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Best Australian Short Stories Mary Lord (editor), Ringwood : Penguin , 1991 Z307411 1991 anthology short story extract humour satire crime historical fiction (taught in 1 units) Ringwood : Penguin , 1991 pg. 249-253
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Collected Stories Peter Carey , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1994 Z389275 1994 selected work short story satire science fiction (taught in 1 units) St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1994 pg. 11-14
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Century of Australian Stories Carmel Bird (editor), Ringwood : Viking , 2000 Z290212 2000 anthology short story Ringwood : Viking , 2000 pg. 125-128

Works about this Work

Cohesive Harmony and Theme in Peter Carey’s 'The Last Days of a Famous Mime' Martin Tilney , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Language and Literature : Journal of the Poetics and Linguistics Association , vol. 27 no. 1 2018;

'Peter Carey’s ‘The last days of a famous mime’ is a short story that presents interpretative challenges. It hangs together as a text, but this coherence is minimal and has an important rhetorical effect that draws attention to the story’s literary meaning. This effect becomes the departure point for a linguistic analysis of the text, which aims to guide an interpretation of the story by focusing on the ways in which textual meanings are construed. Drawing on the systemic functional model of language, the text is analysed from the angles of cohesive harmony and theme. The analysis highlights a low degree of coherence as a central meaning, both at the level of discourse and within the fictional world. This finding leads to the interpretation of the text as a statement on the importance of social and emotional validation.'

Source: Abstract.

y separately published work icon Dancing on Hot Macadam : Peter Carey's Fiction Anthony J. Hassall , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1994 Z374069 1994 single work criticism
The Writing Process Alan Lawson , Ken L. Goodwin , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature 1990; (p. 377-383)
The Writing Process Alan Lawson , Ken L. Goodwin , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature 1990; (p. 377-383)
y separately published work icon Dancing on Hot Macadam : Peter Carey's Fiction Anthony J. Hassall , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1994 Z374069 1994 single work criticism
Cohesive Harmony and Theme in Peter Carey’s 'The Last Days of a Famous Mime' Martin Tilney , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Language and Literature : Journal of the Poetics and Linguistics Association , vol. 27 no. 1 2018;

'Peter Carey’s ‘The last days of a famous mime’ is a short story that presents interpretative challenges. It hangs together as a text, but this coherence is minimal and has an important rhetorical effect that draws attention to the story’s literary meaning. This effect becomes the departure point for a linguistic analysis of the text, which aims to guide an interpretation of the story by focusing on the ways in which textual meanings are construed. Drawing on the systemic functional model of language, the text is analysed from the angles of cohesive harmony and theme. The analysis highlights a low degree of coherence as a central meaning, both at the level of discourse and within the fictional world. This finding leads to the interpretation of the text as a statement on the importance of social and emotional validation.'

Source: Abstract.

Last amended 25 Mar 2003 10:18:07
X