y separately published work icon Subtopia single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 Subtopia
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Notes

  • Dedication: For Lachlan

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Carlton North, Parkville - Carlton area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: The Vulgar Press , 2005 .
      Extent: 280p.
      Written as: A.L. McCann
      ISBN: 0958079560
Language: Turkish

Works about this Work

'I Don't Wanna Live in This Place' : The 'Australian Cultural Cringe' in Subtopia and The River Ophelia Jay Daniel Thompson , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 3 2012;
'This article explores representations of the 'Australian cultural cringe' in A.L. McCann's Subtopia (2005) and Justine Ettler's The River Ophelia (1995). The protagonists of these novels express the kind of anti-Australian sentiments that were described by A.A. Phillips in his famous 1950 essay. The antipathy these protagonists feel towards Australia manifests itself in various forms of abjection.

I argue that the most striking aspect of these novels is the fact they have been published at a historical moment in which the whole notion of an 'Australian cultural cringe' seems to have become obsolete. My readings of these texts are energised by a number of questions. These include, do Subtopia and The River Ophelia uncritically portray Australia as crude and parochial? Or is something altogether more complex happening in these novels? What do these novels say about the relationship between national identity, place and the body?

In pursuing the above questions, I will bring to light important and provocative aspects of these two texts that have been overlooked or misread by critics.' (Author's abstract)
A New Generation Perpetuates the Anti- Suburban Tradition Nathanael O'Reilly , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Exploring Suburbia: The Suburbs in the Contemporary Australian Novel 2012; (p. 137-190)
'A World of ...Risk, Passion, Intensity, and Tragedy : The Post 9/11 Australian Novel Richard Scott Carr , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 23 no. 1 2009; (p. 63-66)

'The terrorist has become a familiar figure and terrorism a common referent in recent Australian writing. I intend to explore a handful of Australian novels published, like [Janet Turner] Hospital's work , since 2001 : A.L. McCann's Subtopia (2005), Linda Jaivin's The Infernal Optimist (2006), Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist (2006), and Andrew McGahan's Underground (2006). All of these novels entered a world attuned to the destructive potential of the terrorist and wary of the terrorist desire to wreak and skill at wreaking havoc.'

Specters of Berlin in A. L. McCann's Subtopia and Christo Tsioklas's Dead Europe David Sornig , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 21 no. 1 2007; (p. 67-71)

David Sornig explores the idea that Andrew McCann's Subtopia and Christos Tsiolkas's Dead Europe render 'versions of Berlin, and engage the narrative uncertainty of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a way that can be read to follow from Derrida's exploration of the logic of the ghost, the hauntology he describes in Specters of Marx, which suggests that the presence of the past should be interrogated not as a final post-Historical object, as Fukuyama [in The End of History and The Last Man] might suggest, but rather as this heterogeneous inheritance, as multiple as its iterations'.

Sornig discusses the ways in which McCann's and Tsiolkas's narratives 'weigh the eschatological status of Berlin'.

Bohemia Kara 'Sabutopia' e Masaya Shimokusu , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation , August vol. 152 no. 5 2006; (p. 286-?)
Book Review Peter Pierce , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 13 September vol. 123 no. 6487 2005; (p. 69)

— Review of Subtopia Andrew McCann , 2005 single work novel
Escaping From Failed Suburban Lives Christopher Bantick , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 15 October 2005; (p. 4)

— Review of Subtopia Andrew McCann , 2005 single work novel
Generation X Self-Examination Puts a Spotlight on Failure Ed Wright , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 October 2005; (p. 12-13)

— Review of Subtopia Andrew McCann , 2005 single work novel
The Bliss-Free Burbs Sacha Molitorisz , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 November 2005; (p. 20-21)

— Review of Subtopia Andrew McCann , 2005 single work novel
Corpseworld Maria Takolander , 2005-2006 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 277 2005-2006; (p. 33)

— Review of Subtopia Andrew McCann , 2005 single work novel
Behind the Scene Michelle Griffin , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 24 September 2005; (p. 3)
Subtopia or Sunnyside? Rodney Wetherell , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 65 no. 2 2006; (p. 174-180)
Editor's note: Rodney Wetherell considers the treatment of Melbourne and its suburbs in some recent novels.
Bohemia Kara 'Sabutopia' e Masaya Shimokusu , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation , August vol. 152 no. 5 2006; (p. 286-?)
Specters of Berlin in A. L. McCann's Subtopia and Christo Tsioklas's Dead Europe David Sornig , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 21 no. 1 2007; (p. 67-71)

David Sornig explores the idea that Andrew McCann's Subtopia and Christos Tsiolkas's Dead Europe render 'versions of Berlin, and engage the narrative uncertainty of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a way that can be read to follow from Derrida's exploration of the logic of the ghost, the hauntology he describes in Specters of Marx, which suggests that the presence of the past should be interrogated not as a final post-Historical object, as Fukuyama [in The End of History and The Last Man] might suggest, but rather as this heterogeneous inheritance, as multiple as its iterations'.

Sornig discusses the ways in which McCann's and Tsiolkas's narratives 'weigh the eschatological status of Berlin'.

'A World of ...Risk, Passion, Intensity, and Tragedy : The Post 9/11 Australian Novel Richard Scott Carr , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 23 no. 1 2009; (p. 63-66)

'The terrorist has become a familiar figure and terrorism a common referent in recent Australian writing. I intend to explore a handful of Australian novels published, like [Janet Turner] Hospital's work , since 2001 : A.L. McCann's Subtopia (2005), Linda Jaivin's The Infernal Optimist (2006), Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist (2006), and Andrew McGahan's Underground (2006). All of these novels entered a world attuned to the destructive potential of the terrorist and wary of the terrorist desire to wreak and skill at wreaking havoc.'

Last amended 16 Dec 2015 11:06:30
Settings:
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    Germany,
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    Western Europe, Europe,
  • London,
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    England,
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    United Kingdom (UK),
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    Western Europe, Europe,
  • c
    Germany,
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    Western Europe, Europe,
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