y separately published work icon The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A comprehensive biography of Charmian Clift's life and work. The biographer, Nadia Wheatley, spent over two decades in research for this Life, while continuing to write her own important body of work. Nadia Wheatley's examination of Clift's literary works in print and in manuscript is enlightening.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,:HarperCollins Australia , 2001 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Author's Note, Nadia Wheatley , single work criticism
A fascinating insight into the writing of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift and the reasons behind it's narrative structure.
(p. viii-xvii)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Flamingo ,
      2001 .
      Extent: xix, 739p., [24]p. of platesp.
      Description: illus., map, ports
      ISBN: 0732268850, 0732269121 (pbk.)

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Three Ways of Looking at Kalymnos : Charmian Clift’s Differing Versions of One Greek Island Shilo Previti , Jamie Walters , David Roessel , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019;
'In 1951, married Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, feeling stifled by postwar conservatism, left Sydney behind to find a more ‘authentic’ way of living. They went first to London, the mecca for Australian literary expatriates, where there was no shortage of work and culture, but where they quickly felt trapped by the ‘rat-race’ mentality of a modern city. So in 1954 they left again, this time for the Greek islands, disposing of material possessions and cutting many of their personal ties. Hoping for a permanent shift from mundane to romantic, they embraced the shining ideals offered by Greek island life: other-worldly beauty; ‘simple’ Greek lifestyles, and freedom from the many pressures of the ‘real’ world.' (Introduction)
Charmain Clift and George Johnston, Hydra 1960 : The 'Lost' Photographs of James Burke Paul Genoni , Tanya Dalziell , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 73 no. 1 2014; (p. 18-37)

'In one of her many essays, Charmian Clift writes of the melancholic experience of feeling like a photograph. She has been asked to address a group of students at Wollongong High School, a school she had attended, and in preparing her speech she turns to a photograph that appears in the school's fiftieth-anniversary commemorative booklet. The photograph depicts a class from Clift's time at the school, 'formally posed with the boys lined up behind the girls and their hands resting on the girls' shoulders' ('On Turning slightly Sepia', p. 48 (see References below)), and as photographs do it evokes in Clift's memory small details that are not evidenced in the image itself: 'I can still see one of those girls arched in a perfect swallow dive, and remember precisely a collar of little pearl buttons on a blue crepe dress that another of them wore to an end-of-term dance that year'(48). The photograph also prompts Clift to consider how different her teenage circumstances were from those of the students she is to speak to, their faces shining with the confidence that faith in the goodness of the future affords. Before those faces now momentarily turned to her, she thinks of herself as the past, and wonders, 'if they realized that standing up before them I knew myself to be curling at the edges and turning slightly sepia' (51).' (Publication abstract)

Mermaid Tavern Evelyn Juers , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 20 May no. 5329 2005; (p. 22)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography ; Charmian and George : The Marriage of George Johnston and Charmian Clift Max Brown , 2004 single work biography ; Searching for Charmian : The Daughter Charmian Clift Gave Away Discovers the Mother She Never Knew Suzanne Chick , 1994 single work autobiography ; The Broken Book Susan Johnson , 2004 single work novel
Untitled Ian McFarlane , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Voice : A Journal of Comment and Review , March no. 1 2002; (p. 27-29)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography
Tales, Tears and Recognition ... Rest of the Story is History Tony Stephens , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 October 2002; (p. 6)
Mermaid Tavern Evelyn Juers , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 20 May no. 5329 2005; (p. 22)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography ; Charmian and George : The Marriage of George Johnston and Charmian Clift Max Brown , 2004 single work biography ; Searching for Charmian : The Daughter Charmian Clift Gave Away Discovers the Mother She Never Knew Suzanne Chick , 1994 single work autobiography ; The Broken Book Susan Johnson , 2004 single work novel
Untitled Ian McFarlane , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Voice : A Journal of Comment and Review , March no. 1 2002; (p. 27-29)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography
The Sweet Voice of Reason Ian McFarlane , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 June 2001; (p. 16)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography
Rebelling Against the Better Half Tony Baker , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 9 June 2001; (p. 19)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography
Ways of Escape in a Literary Life Stephanie Holt , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 4 August 2001; (p. 9)

— Review of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work biography
Fated Glamour Couple of Australian Writing Revealed as Creators of Their Own Mythology Susan Wyndham , 2001 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 April 2001; (p. 11)
The Other Side of Charmian Sally Blakeney , 2001 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 April 2001; (p. 10-11)
A Charmian Life Mark Tredinnick , 2001 single work biography
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 8 May vol. 119 no. 6273 2001; (p. 64-65)
The Reluctant Biographer Jane Sullivan , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 23 June 2001; (p. 8)
Author's Note Nadia Wheatley , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift 2001; (p. viii-xvii)
A fascinating insight into the writing of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift and the reasons behind it's narrative structure.
Last amended 13 Mar 2008 11:30:36
Settings:
  • Kiama, Kiama area, Illawarra, South Coast, New South Wales,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • London,
    c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • Kalymnos, Greek islands,
    c
    Greece,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • Stanton, Cotswolds, Gloucestershire,
    c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • Hydra, Greek islands,
    c
    Greece,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
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