Shame and Forgiveness single work   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 1999... 1999 Shame and Forgiveness
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.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The High Price of Heaven David Marr , St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1999 Z991685 1999 selected work essay St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1999
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The High Price of Heaven David Marr , St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1999 Z991685 1999 selected work essay Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2000
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Book of Gay Australian Writing Graeme Aitken (editor), Ringwood : Penguin , 2002 Z983883 2002 anthology short story essay correspondence prose poetry extract criticism Ringwood : Penguin , 2002 pg. 163-181
    Note: Slightly revised version.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Growing Up Queer in Australia Benjamin Law (editor), Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2019 15891759 2019 anthology autobiography

    'I marked the day in my adolescent diary with a single blank page.
    The mantle of “queer migrant” compelled me to keep going – to go further.
    I never “came out” to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation.
    All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints.
    I became acutely aware of the parts of myself that were unpalatable to queers who grew up in the city.
    I was thirty-eight and figured it was time to come out to her.
    That’s when I know it’s not going anywhere – the gay.
    I felt like I had been dunked into an episode of
    The L Word and I wasn’t given the script.
    No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment.
    My queerness was born in a hot dry land that was never ceded.
    I finally admitted what my feelings for
    Dirty Dancing–era Patrick Swayze had clearly been indicating for some time.
    Even now, I sometimes think that I don’t know my own desire.

    'Compiled by celebrated author and journalist Benjamin Law, Growing Up Queer in Australia assembles voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity. Spanning diverse places, eras, genders, ethnicities and experiences, these are the stories of growing up queer in Australia.

    'For better or worse, sooner or later, life conspires to reveal you to yourself, and this is growing up.'

    Source: Publisher's blurb.

    Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2019
    pg. 6-9
Last amended 13 Nov 2002 15:20:48
Shame and Forgivenesssmall AustLit logo
163-181 Shame and Forgivenesssmall AustLit logo
Shame and Forgivenesssmall AustLit logo
6-9 Shame and Forgivenesssmall AustLit logo
X