y separately published work icon Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures single work   novel   young adult  
  • Author:agent Antigone Kefala http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/kefala-antigone
Issue Details: First known date: 1984... 1984 Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures
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.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Alexia is a fictional account, in the fairytale mode, of the experiences of a Greek refugee family who settles in New Zealand in the fifties. The story centres on Alexia, the young heroine whose world is literally turned upside down when she finds herself surrounded by people whose language and culture are totally alien to her. With a mixture of a child naivety and grown-up ironic humour, the story gives the stark ethnic, linguistic and cultural contrasts, which an experience of displacement entails.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:Owl Publishing , 1995 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures : Introduction, Helen Nickas , single work criticism biography (p. 13-29)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Alexia : A Tale for Advanced Children
Language: English , Greek
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Owl Publishing , 1995 .
      image of person or book cover 6833919942820991818.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Alternative title: Alexia : Hena Paramuthi gia Megala Paidia
      Extent: 109p.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • English and Greek texts published together.
      ISBN: 0646257455
      Series: y separately published work icon Writing the Greek Diaspora Helen Nickas (editor), Brighton : Owl Publishing , 1992- 10446088 1992 series - publisher

      This series aims to nurture, study, translate and disseminate literary works by Greeks of the diaspora.

Works about this Work

Language and Bilingualism in Antigone Kefala’s Alexia (1995) and The Island (2002) Caty Ribas , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 13 2014; (p. 116-134)

'Migrants modify the spaces around them: not only by leaving one territory but also by occupying another one. In fact, their physical appearance, their behaviour, their clothing, their preferences and/or their language may be factors used both by locals to pinpoint them and by immigrants themselves as identity markers. Greek-Australian Antigone Kefala explores the significance and uses of language in her tale Alexia: A Tale for Advanced Children (1995) and in her novella The Island (2002). In these texts, Alexia and Melina –the main characters, respectively- use language as a central tool in their struggle to make sense of the world they live in. Being migrants and bilingual, Alexia and Melina have a relation with language that is not understood by many, mainly locals. Kefala uses language as a marker of difference, but, as shown by Jane Warren (1999), this difference can also be a sign of ethnic pride. Consequently, this article not only explores the relation between language and the main characters in Alexia and in The Island but it also introduces other strategies migrants may use to approach languages. The questions to be answered are the following: “What is the relation of migrant characters with their mother tongue? And with the new language, culture, territory and space?” and “Are there alternative strategies?” The expected conclusions are that language can be understood as the ‘enemy’ and ‘friend’ (Kefala 1995: 104) which can both empower and disempower migrants, but which relates them to the space and people around them. Given the fact that language is a live entity, the strategies may be numerous and may vary in time. ' (Author's abstract)

Translating Antigone Kefala into Greek Helen Nickas , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 286-287)

Comments on the trilingual edition of The Island, with French translation by Marie Gaulis and Greek translation by Helen Nickas.

Conversations with Antigone Kefala Konstandina Dounis , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 234-244)
Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Elizabeth Perkins , 2013 extract review
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 81-83)

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Re-Viewing and Re-Situating Greek-Australian Women's Writing Konstandina Dounis , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Made : A Multicultural Reader 2010; (p. 96)
Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Helen Kolias , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Modern Greek Studies , October vol. 15 no. 2 1997;

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel ; Re-Telling the Tale : Poetry and Prose by Greek-Australian Women Writers 1994 anthology short story drama extract poetry
Migrant Mix and Match : Setting Down New Roots Ludmilla Forsyth , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 73 1985; (p. 15-17)

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Never a Nudge or Wink Over Children's Heads Katharine England , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 30 March 1985; (p. 7)

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Pam Gilbert , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 149-150)

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Clarissa Stein , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Multicultural Book Review , vol. 4 no. 2 1996; (p. 3-5)

— Review of Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Alexia : Antigone Kefala's Overdue Fairytale Michael Tsianikas , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: FULGOR , March vol. 1 no. 1 2002; Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 171-187)

The aim of this paper is to examine the way in which Antigone Kefala constructs her story to become an author. She narrates her experience in her book Alexia (Antigone Kefala"s persona) in a fairytale manner. In the book we learn that Alexia spent some of the most important years of her young life in New Zealand, as a migrant. The most important part of this experience is based on her difficulty to come to terms with, and learn, a new language (English). What begins by being a traumatic experience for Alexia, later evolves into a creative force that guides her decision to become an author. In that way the English language becomes the most powerful, the most creative and the most productive tool in her life.

In order to challenge Alexia's process of becoming an author, her experience is compared to that of two famous French authors, Aragon and Sartre, who also decided to become authors in their childhood years. There was an obvious parallel between the French authors' experiences through their first language, which corresponded in an astonishing way to Alexia's. Therefore, no matter whether one wishes to express oneself in one's mother tongue or a foreign language, the process of becoming an author is always to consider a language as an unknown field of strange sounds, musicality and scattered grains of meanings. -- Author's Abstract

y separately published work icon Migrant Daughters : The Female Voice in Greek-Australian Prose Fiction Helen Nickas , Melbourne : Owl Publishing , 1992 Z27315 1992 single work criticism biography
Re-Viewing and Re-Situating Greek-Australian Women's Writing Konstandina Dounis , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Made : A Multicultural Reader 2010; (p. 96)
Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures : Introduction Helen Nickas , 1995 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Alexia : A Tale of Two Cultures 1995; (p. 13-29)
Conversations with Antigone Kefala Konstandina Dounis , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 234-244)
Last amended 11 Feb 2021 15:56:26
Settings:
  • c
    New Zealand,
    c
    Pacific Region,
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X