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y separately published work icon Tirra Lirra by the River single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1978... 1978 Tirra Lirra by the River
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Liza used to say that she saw her past life as a string of roughly-graded balls, and so did Hilda have a linear conception of hers, thinking of it as a track with detours. But for some years now I have likened mine to a globe suspended in my head, and ever since the shocking realisation that waste is irretrievalbe, I have been careful not to let this globe spin to expose the nether side on which my marriage has left its multitude of images.

'Nora Porteous has spent most of her life waiting to escape. Fleeing from her small-town family and then from her stifling marriage to a mean-spirited husband, Nora arrives finally in London where she creates a new life for herself as a successful dressmaker.

'Now in her seventies, Nora returns to Queensland to settle into her childhood home.

'But Nora has been away a long time, and the people and events of her past are not at all like she remembered them. And while some things never change, Nora is about to discover just how selective her 'globe of memory' has been.

'Tirra Lirra by the River is a moving account of one woman's remarkable life, a beautifully written novel which displays the lyrical brevity of Jessica Anderson's award-winning style.' (Publication summary)

Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For

AC: Year 12 (Literature Unit 4)

Themes

independence, memory, relationships, the loss of innocence, the search for connection

General Capabilities

Ethical understanding, Intercultural understanding

Cross-curriculum Priorities

Sustainability

Contents

* Contents derived from the Brooklyn, New York (City), New York (State),
c
United States of America (USA),
c
Americas,
:
Melville House , 2015 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Afterword, Anna Funder , single work essay

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • South Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Macmillan , 1978 .
      image of person or book cover 227951906504661323.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 141p.
      Reprinted: 1979
      ISBN: 0333251334
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1980 .
      image of person or book cover 8500652401830624997.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 141p.
      ISBN: 0140700854, 0140069453 (pbk.)
    • Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Penguin ,
      1984 .
      image of person or book cover 6373886247227102105.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 141p.
      ISBN: 0140069453 (U.S. : pbk.)
    • Chippendale, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 1997 .
      image of person or book cover 4479120693668895107.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 202p.
      ISBN: 0330359711
    • Brooklyn, New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Melville House ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 862321783605459071.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 184p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 27th January 2015
      ISBN: 9781612193885
Alternative title: Hjemkomst
Language: Danish
    • Copenhagen,
      c
      Denmark,
      c
      Scandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Hekla ,
      1986 .
      Extent: 173p.
      ISBN: 8774741470

Other Formats

  • Also braille, sound recording, large print.

Works about this Work

Writing, Women and the Australian Novel Tanya Dalziell , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
The Crystal Mirror or the Book That Wasn’t Alice Grundy , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2020;

'Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River is one of the few Australian novels of the 1970s that has remained in print since its first release. By contrast, to take just one example, four-time Miles Franklin winner Thea Astley’s books have been out of print a few times – this remains the case for The Acolyte, which won the Miles Franklin in 1972Perhaps in part because of its easily digestible length, Tirra Lirra is a staple of high school and university curricula. Tirra Lirra tells the story of Nora Porteus’ return to her family home in Brisbane after decades overseas. As she is ill and is nearing the end of her life, Nora’s mind turns to her past, her ex-husband, friends, and the interplay of art and labour.' (Introduction)

A Colonial Vistion of Camelot Robert Holden , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Unbound : The National Library of Australia Magazine , December 2018;
y separately published work icon Texts and Textiles : Affect, Synaesthesia and Metaphor in Fiction Diana Mary Eva Thomas , Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Press , 2017 11791282 2017 multi chapter work criticism

'This study shows how fiction that makes use of textiles as an essential element utilizes synaesthetic writing and synaesthetic metaphor to create an affective link to, and response in, the reader. These links and responses are examined using affect theory from Silvan Tomkins and Brian Massumi and work on synaesthesia by Richard Cytowic, Lawrence Marks, and V.S. Ramachandran, among others. Synaesthetic writing, including synaesthetic metaphors, has been explored in poetry since the 1920s and, more recently, in fiction, but these studies have been general in nature. By narrowing the field of investigation to those novels that specifically employ three types of hand-crafted textiles (quilt-making, knitting and embroidery), the book isolates how these textiles are used in fiction. The combination of synaesthesia, memory, metaphor and, particularly, synaesthetic metaphor in fiction with textiles in the text of the case studies selected, shows how these are used to create affect in readers, enhancing their engagement in the story.

'The work is framed within the context of the history of textile production and the use of textiles in fiction internationally, but concentrates on Australian authors who have used textiles in their writing. The decision to focus on Australian authors was taken in light of the quality and depth of the writing of textile fiction produced in Australia between 1980 and 2005 in the three categories of hand-crafted textiles – quilt-making, knitting and embroidery. The texts chosen for intensive study are: Kate Grenville’s The Idea of Perfection (1999, quilting); Marele Day’s Lambs of God (1997, knitting) and Anne Bartlett’s Knitting (2005, knitting); Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River (1978, embroidery) and Marion Halligan’s Spider Cup (1990, embroidery).' (Publication summary)

Coming Closer to the Source Ashley Hay , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8 April 2017; (p. 18)
'Ashley Hay finds her acquaintance with a classic Australian novel is moulded by time and place — and a remarkable coincidence.'
Tirra Lirra by the River Betty Pybus , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Womanspeak , June-July vol. 4 no. 5 1979; (p. 26)

— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River Jessica Anderson , 1978 single work novel
Exploring the Territory : Some Recent Australian Novels Peter Pierce , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 38 no. 2 1979; (p. 225-233) Oceanic Literature , no. 5 1983; (p. 332-345)

— Review of An Imaginary Life : A Novel David Malouf , 1978 single work novel ; The Year of Living Dangerously Christopher Koch , 1978 single work novel ; Bitter Bread Ronald McKie , 1978 single work novel ; Idlers in the Land Keith Thomas , 1978 single work novel ; Tirra Lirra by the River Jessica Anderson , 1978 single work novel ; The Bitter Lotus Richard Beilby , 1978 single work novel ; Where the Queens All Strayed Barbara Hanrahan , 1978 single work novel ; Silent Reach Osmar E. White , 1978 single work novel
Camelot Between the Wars Cliff Hanna , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 40 no. 3 1980; (p. 360-363)

— Review of Water Under the Bridge : A Novel Sumner Locke Elliott , 1977 single work novel ; Tirra Lirra by the River Jessica Anderson , 1978 single work novel
[Review] Tirra Lirra by the River Roger McDonald , 1978 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 6 1978;

— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River Jessica Anderson , 1978 single work novel
[Review] Tirra Lirra by the River J. Bedford , 1978 single work review
— Appears in: The National Times , 9 September 1978; (p. 41)

— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River Jessica Anderson , 1978 single work novel
Tirra Lirra by the Brisbane River Donat Gallagher , 1981 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 10 no. 1 1981; (p. 101-110)
Queensland Literature : Is It Different? Garry Winter , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 3 1987; (p. 45-51)
'Where No Knight in Armour Has Ever Trod' : The Arthurianism of Jessica Anderson's Heroines Louise D'Arcens , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Medievalism and the Gothic in Australian Culture 2006; (p. 61-80)
Louise D'Arcens examines the differences in the way two heroines from novels by Jessica Anderson read Arthurian legends. She suggests that 'the transition between the two heroines' medievalisms reflects the changing significance of the Middle Ages as an imaginative prism through which Australian experience has been refracted. The development they embody [...] is an index of Australia's transition from colonial dependency at the beginning of the twentieth century to cultural autonomy and sovereignty a the century's end' (62-63).
Women, Law and Literature : Representations of Women and the Law in American and Australian Fiction Elaine Barry , 1994 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Happy Couple : Law and Literature 1994; (p. 99-113)
Tirra Lirra by the River : Jessica Anderson (1916- ) Jane Gleeson-White , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Classics : Fifty Great Writers and Their Celebrated Works 2007; (p. 183-186)
Last amended 22 Mar 2022 07:57:58
Subjects:
  • Urban,
  • London,
    c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • Brisbane, Queensland,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
Settings:
  • 1900s
  • 1910s
  • 1920s
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1930s
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