A short story set in a world where to be fat is to be counter-revolutionary and seen as greedy. Six fat men, ostracised from society, live together in one house and find some semblance of harmony. Hopeless, the only option to them seems to be to conform to society, until one of them suggests striking back at authority and the regime they live under.
A short story set in a world where to be fat is to be counter-revolutionary and seen as greedy. Six fat men, ostracised from society, live together in one house and find some semblance of harmony. Hopeless, the only option to them seems to be to conform to society, until one of them suggests striking back at authority and the regime they live under.
The Fat Man in History : Short Stories
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
1974
Z199916
1974
selected work
short story
science fiction
satire
'A collection of surrealistic stories set in the near future centers on such bizarre events as a genetic lottery for winning new bodies and a revolution organized by a group of ostracized fat men.' (Source: TROVE)
War Crimes : Short Stories
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
1979
Z285497
1979
selected work
short story
'This chapter aims to reconstruct the various economic and symbolic rewards of publishing Carey’s first collection of short stories, The Fat Man in History (1974). It offers a lateral examination of two interrelated aspects of Carey’s early fiction. It captures a continuum of Australian and transnational practices of literary distinction and advancement governing the success of the University of Queensland Press (UQP) and The Fat Man. These phenomena include the dominance of postmodern critique, governmental patronage of the Australian short story, and the termination of the Traditional Market Agreement. I explore the structural homologies between Carey’s position-takings in the literary field and the ways in which his characters engage with systems of cultural production and consumption. I then examine the evolution of Carey’s literary capital as his medium of publication shifts from literary magazines to UQP books and then onto prestigious international publishers such as Faber and Faber.' (Publication abstract)
