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y separately published work icon And the Ass Saw the Angel single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1989... 1989 And the Ass Saw the Angel
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Cave’s debut novel takes on the southern gothic in this bizarre baroque tale. Born mute to a drunken mother and a demented father, tortured Euchrid Eucrow finds more compassion in the family mule than in his fellow men. But he alone will grasp the cruel fate of Cosey Mo, the beautiful young prostitute in the pink caravan on Hooper’s Hill. And it is Euchrid, spiraling ever deeper into his mad angelic vision, who will ultimately redeem both the town and its people.

Source: publisher's blurb

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1990 .
      Extent: 312p.
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: For Anita
      • Epigraph: From the Old Testament, Numbers, 22:23-31
      ISBN: 0140131515, 0140143262 (pbk.)
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 1539864317031982235.jpeg
      This image has been sourced from Amazon
      Extent: 324p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 29 June 2009
      ISBN: 9780141045610
      Series: y separately published work icon Popular Penguins Penguin (publisher), Camberwell : Penguin , 2008- Z1605341 2008 series - publisher novel essay short story
    • c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Penguin ,
      2013 .
      image of person or book cover 2901032099026230050.jpg
      Image courtesy of Penguin Books
      Extent: 320p.
      Note/s:
      • Published:26/06/2013

        Part of the limited edition Penguin Street Art series.

      ISBN: 9780241964798
Alternative title: Und die Eselin sah den Engel
Language: German
    • Ravensburg,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      P. S. Verlag ,
      1990 .
      Extent: 325p.
      Edition info: 3rd German ed.
      ISBN: 3926532246
    • Munich,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Zurich,
      c
      Switzerland,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Piper ,
      1993 .
      Extent: 325p.
      Reprinted: 1994
      ISBN: 3492118690
    • Zurich,
      c
      Switzerland,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Munich,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Piper ,
      1996 .
      Extent: 325p.
      ISBN: 3492218695
    • Munich,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Zurich,
      c
      Switzerland,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Piper ,
      1998 .
      Extent: 325p.
      ISBN: 349222671X

Other Formats

  • Also published as a sound recording.

Works about this Work

Untitled single work review
— Review of And the Ass Saw the Angel Nick Cave , 1989 single work novel
Down by the River : Nick Cave’s Boyhood in Wangaratta (1959-70) Mark Mordue , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , August 2019;

'‘One of the many things I regret about writing And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) was that I didn’t set it in Australia. It could just as easily be set in Wangaratta rather than an imaginary part of the American South. I don’t know why I didn’t do that. I wish I had. For sure that book comes from growing up in the country, from living a life in country Australia. It’s not from listening to murder ballads. The river was the sacred place of my childhood and everything happened down there.' (Introduction)

The Total Depravity of Nick Cave’s Literary World Roland Boer , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Literature and Theology , September vol. 25 no. 3 2011; (p. 312-328)
'The article argues that Nick Cave's literary (as opposed to his musical) world is characterised by the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity. In both outlining this world and seeking the moment of redemption, I simultaneously construct the framework of that world—in terms of the deranged house of incest, substance abuse, the spread of depravity to nature itself and the way the Bible is woven into that world—and fill in its content, with a specific focus on his novels. As that world gains some body, its dialectical relation to redemption begins to emerge, although with a problematic twist (Author's abstract).
Elvis Down Under : Simulations of a US Pop Icon in Australian Fiction Paul Genoni , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 177-193)
'This paper will examine a selection of Australian fiction which features Elvis Presley, or a Presley manqué, as a character. This will include novels and short fiction by Debra Adelaide (A Household Guide to Dying), Julie Capaldo (Weather), Nick Cave (And the Ass Saw the Angel), Gail Jones ('Heartbreak Hotel') and Dorian Mode (A Cafe in Venice). The paper will investigate the capacity of a ubiquitous pop icon such as Presley to absorb and reflect socio-cultural meanings that transcend national boundaries while at the same time affirming elements of national character. In doing so it will consider the meaning and function of trans-national celebrity in a globalised world, and explore why it is that Australian authors—and readers—find a resonance in the figure of Elvis Presley that is seemingly missing from the pop-iconography of their own country.' (Author's abstract)
The Good Son Peter Conrad , 2009 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , August no. 48 2009; (p. 28-37)
Conrad examines whether there is 'a mission in the vindictive madness Cave unleashes in his songs and novels'.
Cave's Words Sing in Cursed Valley Paul Toohey , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 10-11 March 1990; (p. 8)

— Review of And the Ass Saw the Angel Nick Cave , 1989 single work novel
A Gothic Grab Bag Laurence White , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 February 1990; (p. 11)

— Review of And the Ass Saw the Angel Nick Cave , 1989 single work novel
Untitled single work review
— Review of And the Ass Saw the Angel Nick Cave , 1989 single work novel
Nick Cave : Le Sud Imaginaire Jean-Philippe Henquel , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Magazine-Litteraire , December no. 404 2001; (p. 43-44)
Nick Cave : The Complete Lyrics : Introduction Will Self , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Complete Lyrics 2007;

— Appears in: The Age , 9 June 2007; (p. 15) The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 June 2007; (p. 18-19)
Yeah, I Walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Beth: Murdering the Muse in Nick Cave's And the Ass Saw the Angel. J. W. Ocker , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australian Weird Fiction , no. 3 2009; (p. 67-78)
The Good Son Peter Conrad , 2009 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , August no. 48 2009; (p. 28-37)
Conrad examines whether there is 'a mission in the vindictive madness Cave unleashes in his songs and novels'.
Elvis Down Under : Simulations of a US Pop Icon in Australian Fiction Paul Genoni , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Across the Pacific : Australia-United States Intellectual Histories 2010; (p. 177-193)
'This paper will examine a selection of Australian fiction which features Elvis Presley, or a Presley manqué, as a character. This will include novels and short fiction by Debra Adelaide (A Household Guide to Dying), Julie Capaldo (Weather), Nick Cave (And the Ass Saw the Angel), Gail Jones ('Heartbreak Hotel') and Dorian Mode (A Cafe in Venice). The paper will investigate the capacity of a ubiquitous pop icon such as Presley to absorb and reflect socio-cultural meanings that transcend national boundaries while at the same time affirming elements of national character. In doing so it will consider the meaning and function of trans-national celebrity in a globalised world, and explore why it is that Australian authors—and readers—find a resonance in the figure of Elvis Presley that is seemingly missing from the pop-iconography of their own country.' (Author's abstract)
Last amended 26 Oct 2023 13:13:04
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