image of person or book cover 2672546528830905616.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Automatic Teller selected work   short story   prose   biography   criticism   essay   autobiography  
Issue Details: First known date: 1996... 1996 Automatic Teller
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

What is that process that takes a thought from a writer's head, onto the page, and into the mind of the reader?...Automatic Teller is a meditation on the heart, mind and imagination at work. In this provocative collection of stories and essays, Carmel Bird examines the nature of fact and fiction and the complexities of contemporary life in writing that encompasses dark humour, sly wit, and abiding compassion...Each of the twenty-four pieces is prefaced with a personal reflection on the art of storytelling. The result is both a revealing writer's diary, and a feast of insightful - and surprising - storytelling. (Source: back cover)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my daughter Camilla
  • Epigraph: A story exists in the space between a storyteller and a listener, in a site of transnarcissistic communication. Carrillo Mean, 'The Ear and the Ego'
  • Epigraph: ...you lean against a bank... / T. S. Eliot, from 'East Coker'

Contents

* Contents derived from the Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,:Vintage Australia , 1996 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Conservatory, Carmel Bird , single work short story horror (p. 7-17)
Barbara Hanrahan, Carmel Bird , single work biography (p. 21-47)
A Telephone Call for Genevieve Snow, Carmel Bird , single work short story horror
A primary school teacher is stalked by 'the Wolfman.'
(p. 51-58)
Mr Lightning, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 61-70)
One Last Picture of Ruby-Rose, Carmel Bird , single work short story horror (p. 73-79)
The Golden Moment, Carmel Bird , single work short story

THE GOLDEN MOMENT The story of the golden moment is a story about suburban Australia in the nineteen fifties. The street in which the story takes place is often called ‘the golden mile’ because so many wealthy bankers and barristers and surgeons have for generations lived there in grandeur and comfort with their beautiful wives and happy families. Almost all of these families have very white skins indeed, and are by religion Christians (of the Protestant kind). The rare Jewish or Roman Catholic family is treated with superb tolerance and charity, but it is understood that such families are darkened by a blight too powerful and mysterious to name.

The houses themselves bear the names they were given by the original inhabitants and some of these names reflect a nostalgia for places far away, others expressing a hope in the youthful country of Australia. The style of architecture is labelled ‘Federation’ in recognition of the modern birth of the country itself. The trees and flowers are by and large European, and the branches of the oaks and elms that line the street on one side almost touch those on the other, so that in summer a magical green tunnel arches above the traffic, and people from less beautiful suburbs drive along here just to marvel at the trees along the golden mile. Even ordinary traffic seems to move sedately along the grandest section of the road.

A golden moment is that time of the afternoon photographers love, when the light of day bathes the world in one last glow of radiance, when Paradise is promised, when everything stands still at the instant between the darkness and the light, when fairies and goblins and other spirits good and bad may be revealed.
The golden moment on the golden mile is one of nature’s marvels.

(Source: author's website)

(p. 83-96)
Note: With title: The Golden Moment (1995)
The Piano Freedom of Speech, Carmel Bird , single work essay (p. 99-113)
Note: With title: 'The Piano'
What Writers Do, Carmel Bird , single work criticism (p. 117-123)
Chinese Carpets, Carmel Bird , single work biography (p. 127-135)
My Mother's Death, Carmel Bird , single work autobiography (p. 139-143)
Fact or Fiction : Who Knows, Who Cares, Carmel Bird , single work essay (p. 147-170)
Reflections in My Father's Mirrors, Carmel Bird , single work autobiography (p. 173-192)
As High as an Elephant's Eye, Carmel Bird , single work prose (p. 195-228)
Reptile Girl, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 231-237)
The Man in the Red Car, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 241-254)
The Affair at the Ritz, Carmel Bird , single work short story humour (p. 257-260)
Ties of Blood, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 263-271)
Now Ida Haunts the Car Park Elevator, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 275-281)
Note: With title: Now Ida Haunts the Car Park
Mouthugly, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 285-305)
Her First Golden Moment, Carmel Bird , single work short story (p. 309-317)
Note: With title: Her First Golden Moment (1989)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Vintage Australia , 1996 .
      image of person or book cover 2672546528830905616.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 363p.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction and Afterword by the author.
      • If on the stroke of midnight you stand outside the bank in the High Street and feed some cash to the hole in the wall, then press your ear to the automatic teller, you will hear a story... (appears on cover)
      ISBN: 0091833965

Works about this Work

Teasing Out the Truth Michael Sharkey , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 December 1996; (p. rev 9)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Hearing Voices Kevin Brophy , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 186 1996; (p. 47)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Paperbacks Anne Susskind , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14 December 1996; (p. 12s)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Like Wise Words from a Close Friend Ian McFarlane , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 November 1996; (p. C11)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Paperbacks Fiona Capp , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 November 1996; (p. 7)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Paperbacks Fiona Capp , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 November 1996; (p. 7)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Like Wise Words from a Close Friend Ian McFarlane , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 November 1996; (p. C11)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Paperbacks Anne Susskind , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14 December 1996; (p. 12s)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Hearing Voices Kevin Brophy , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 186 1996; (p. 47)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Teasing Out the Truth Michael Sharkey , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 December 1996; (p. rev 9)

— Review of Automatic Teller Carmel Bird , 1996 selected work short story prose biography criticism essay autobiography
Last amended 11 Jun 2020 14:47:25
X