y separately published work icon Passenger single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1979... 1979 Passenger
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'At what point a foetus takes on the properties of a human individual is a knotty problem, but whether the answer be medical or metaphysical, it is unlikely to be precise. No such uncertainty affects the narrator of Thomas Keneally's novel. He springs into awareness at the instant a laser beam penetrates the womb to determine whether the configuation of his brain was all it should be: "It didn't happen violently and I suffered no shock. But the rose or weed of knowledge opened in my hand, and I, as it were, fingered all its petals." From then on the foetus has access to the reservoir of his mother's consciousness, sees through his mother's eyes, and yet cherishes his own quizzical and fiercely independent personality. With the detached resignation of an observer who recognizes he can do little to help, he watches as his parents' marriage founders, his mother is manoeuvred into a mental home, her rescue is secured by the enigmatic and gnome-like Warwick Jones and together mother, foetus and Jones flee to Australia. Until at last the foetus, not in utter nakedness, still less in entire forgetfulness, bursts upon the world it has surveyed for so long.' (Source: dustjacket, 1979 Collins edition)

Notes

  • Dedication: To Trish Sheppard and Iain Findlay.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Collins ,
      1979 .
      Extent: 189p.
      Note/s:
      • Printed in Great Britain.
      • Cover subtitle (dustjacket): Passenger: A Novel.
      ISBN: 0002216299 (hbk)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Fontana ,
      1980 .
      Extent: 189p.
      ISBN: 0006158862 (pbk)

Works about this Work

Irish Cultural Memory in Australian Writing since World War II Kathleen Simmons , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Irish-Australian Studies : Papers Delivered at the Ninth Irish-Australian Conference, Galway, April 1997 2000; (p. 224-232)
'Our Dread of the Coming Society': Thomas Keneally's Fiction Peter Pierce , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 116-121)
y separately published work icon Australian Melodramas : Thomas Keneally's Fiction Peter Pierce , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1995 Z565009 1995 single work criticism The first comprehensive critical study of Keneally's work. It concentrates on his novels, but also covers plays and non-fiction, and analyses the academic reception of Keneally's work.
Untitled Peter Pierce , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 155-156)

— Review of Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel
The Passenger i "Little embryo, x-rayed,", Lyn Rogers , 1983 single work poetry satire
— Appears in: Oz Shrink Lit. 1983; (p. 95)
The Year of Writing Skilfully Laurie Clancy , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , July no. 80 1980; (p. 51-54)

— Review of An Imaginary Life : A Novel David Malouf , 1978 single work novel ; Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel ; The Year of Living Dangerously Christopher Koch , 1978 single work novel ; A Cry in the Jungle Bar Robert Drewe , 1979 single work novel ; 1915 : A Novel Roger McDonald , 1979 single work novel
Audacious, Earnest and Instructive Robert Sellick , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: The CRNLE Reviews Journal , October no. 2 1979; (p. 39-44)

— Review of Shalom : A Collection of Australian Jewish Stories 1978 anthology short story ; Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel ; Bitter Bread Ronald McKie , 1978 single work novel
The Resemblance of Things Past, Present and Future Cliff Hanna , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , March vol. 40 no. 1 1980; (p. 120-124)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel ; A Victim of the Aurora Thomas Keneally , 1977 single work novel ; Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel
Untitled J. Neville , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: National Times , 14 July 1979; (p. 36)

— Review of Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel
[Review] Passenger Katharine England , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 14 April 1980; (p. 17)

— Review of Passenger Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel
The Passenger i "Little embryo, x-rayed,", Lyn Rogers , 1983 single work poetry satire
— Appears in: Oz Shrink Lit. 1983; (p. 95)
'Our Dread of the Coming Society': Thomas Keneally's Fiction Peter Pierce , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 116-121)
Making Connections : Art, Life and Some Recent Novels Veronica Brady , 1980 single work criticism review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 25 no. 2 1980; (p. 61-75)
Thomas Keneally's 'Innocent' Men Frances McInherny , 1981 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 10 no. 1 1981; (p. 57-66)
Thomas Keneally's Passenger and the Middle Voice Mark Macleod , 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Literary Criterion , vol. 15 no. 3-4 1980; (p. 183-194)
Last amended 3 Jul 2012 14:29:37
Subjects:
  • Asia,
  • c
    Vietnam,
    c
    Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
  • Borneo, Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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