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y separately published work icon The Island single work   novel  
  • Author:agent Antigone Kefala http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/kefala-antigone
Issue Details: First known date: 1984... 1984 The Island
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The novel follows Melina Pappas as she pursues her studies at university. Melina was born abroad and raised on the island - described vaguely, but with a resemblance to New Zealand - and thus occupies an in-between space in society which affects how she is perceived. As Catalina Rebus Segura describes, "She is passionate and shows it in her mannerisms and speech. However, islanders are defined as cold and indifferent as their body language is subdued to their detached speech." 

"In The Island, Kefala focuses on perceptions and the consequences of interaction as well as on verbal and non-verbal communication."

Source: "Language and Bilingualism in Antigone Kefala’s Alexia (1995) and The Island (2002)" by Catalina Rebus Segura.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Notes:
Dedication: To Mica
Alternative title: L'ile
Alternative title: To Nisi
Language: French , English , Greek
Notes:
Translated into French by Marie Gaulis and into Greek by Helen Nickas from the original English. French, Greek and English texts published together with the English version on the left-hand page and the French and Greek versions in two columns on the facing right-hand page.
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Owl Publishing , 2002 .
      Extent: 181p.
      Note/s:
      • Includes biographical notes on the author and translators, an introduction in English by Helen Nickas (pp.13-27), and a bibliography.
      ISBN: 1958639051
      Series: y separately published work icon Writing the Greek Diaspora Helen Nickas (editor), Brighton : Owl Publishing , 1992- 10446088 1992 series - publisher

      This series aims to nurture, study, translate and disseminate literary works by Greeks of the diaspora.

Works about this Work

Language and Bilingualism in Antigone Kefala’s Alexia (1995) and The Island (2002) Caty Ribas , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 13 2014; (p. 116-134)

'Migrants modify the spaces around them: not only by leaving one territory but also by occupying another one. In fact, their physical appearance, their behaviour, their clothing, their preferences and/or their language may be factors used both by locals to pinpoint them and by immigrants themselves as identity markers. Greek-Australian Antigone Kefala explores the significance and uses of language in her tale Alexia: A Tale for Advanced Children (1995) and in her novella The Island (2002). In these texts, Alexia and Melina –the main characters, respectively- use language as a central tool in their struggle to make sense of the world they live in. Being migrants and bilingual, Alexia and Melina have a relation with language that is not understood by many, mainly locals. Kefala uses language as a marker of difference, but, as shown by Jane Warren (1999), this difference can also be a sign of ethnic pride. Consequently, this article not only explores the relation between language and the main characters in Alexia and in The Island but it also introduces other strategies migrants may use to approach languages. The questions to be answered are the following: “What is the relation of migrant characters with their mother tongue? And with the new language, culture, territory and space?” and “Are there alternative strategies?” The expected conclusions are that language can be understood as the ‘enemy’ and ‘friend’ (Kefala 1995: 104) which can both empower and disempower migrants, but which relates them to the space and people around them. Given the fact that language is a live entity, the strategies may be numerous and may vary in time. ' (Author's abstract)

Translating Antigone Kefala into Greek Helen Nickas , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 286-287)

Comments on the trilingual edition of The Island, with French translation by Marie Gaulis and Greek translation by Helen Nickas.

Conversations with Antigone Kefala Konstandina Dounis , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 234-244)
'We, the Only Witness of Ourselves' : Re-Reading Antigone Kefala's Work Sneja Gunew , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 210-220)

Sneja Gunew argues that Kefala's work has been marginalised by Australian literary criticism. 'The voice that manifest itself 40 years ago was categorized too quickly as "alien", a designation that has haunted Kefala's work thereafter. It is time to relocate her as a cultural pioneer who gave voice for over fifty years to those postwar immigrants who form an integral part of the fabric of Australian culture but whose contributions still require more systematic analysis and mapping, including a mapping in languages other than English.' (218)

Re-deeming the Past : Personal and Cultural Memory in the Work of Antigone Kefala Helen Nickas , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 188-198)
Exilic Colour Stathis Gauntlett , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 253 2003; (p. 48-49) Antigone Kefala : A Writer's Journey 2013; (p. 112-115)

— Review of Summer Visit : Three Novellas Antigone Kefala , 2002 selected work novella ; The Island Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
Sea and Island Susan McKernan , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February-March no. 68 1985; (p. 24-25)

— Review of The Island Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
The Sullen Novelists : New Australian Fiction Thelma Forshaw , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , March vol. 29 no. 3 1985; (p. 77-79)

— Review of The Island Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel ; Shallows Tim Winton , 1984 single work novel ; Crooks Bill Reed , 1984 single work novel ; Milk and Honey : A Novel Elizabeth Jolley , 1984 single work novel ; Bearded Ladies : Stories Kate Grenville , 1984 selected work short story poetry ; The Man Who Stayed Below Alan Gould , 1984 single work novel ; Last Ferry to Manly Jill Neville , 1984 single work novel ; The Chinaman Don'o Kim , 1984 single work novel
No Text is an Island Elizabeth Lawson , 1986 single work review
— Appears in: The Phoenix Review , Summer 1986/7 no. 1 1986; (p. 119-121)

— Review of The Island Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel ; The Three Fates and Other Poems Rosemary Dobson , 1984 selected work poetry ; The Night Parrot Dorothy Porter , 1984 selected work poetry
Untitled Susan Hawthorne , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 149)

— Review of The Island Antigone Kefala , 1984 single work novel
A Portrait of Greek Women in Australia as Perceived through the Interplay of Local Writings, Oral History and the Imperative of Personal Experience Konstandina Dounis , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: Greeks in English Speaking Countries : Proceedings of the First International Seminar, Melbourne, 27-30 March, 1992 1993; (p. 117-129)
y separately published work icon Migrant Daughters : The Female Voice in Greek-Australian Prose Fiction Helen Nickas , Melbourne : Owl Publishing , 1992 Z27315 1992 single work criticism biography
Re-Viewing and Re-Situating Greek-Australian Women's Writing Konstandina Dounis , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Made : A Multicultural Reader 2010; (p. 96)
A Transplanted Culture Breaks Down Obstacles Sarah Walls (interviewer), 1983 single work biography interview
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 11-12 June 1983; (p. 13)
Antigone Kefala and Marginalisation in Australian Literature : Postscript Pam Gilbert , 1988 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Coming Out from Under : Contemporary Australian Woman Writers 1988; (p. 187-200)
Last amended 19 Sep 2022 10:15:58
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