Cirrus@Austlit

Compares and contrasts US and Australian cultures and the different approaches to cultural studies emerging from the differences.

Reflecting on the relationship between life and art, the author compares My Life as a Fake with literary monster stories and literary hoaxes (such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the Ern Malley affair). He argues that life-as-a-fake 'is constructed for us all by our culture' (p.49), and that Carey's novel constitutes a 'supplementaion' rather than a 'replacement' of life/reality.

In these extracts from Provenance, Rafaela discovers she is pregnant while staying on Bob and Clarissa Carmichael's farm, and attempts violently to end the pregnancy. In the second extract, Chella and Rafaela have been separated by misunderstandings, and Rafi must wait for the Carmichael family's return to the farm before going on to Melbourne alone. These events are a turning point in the novel: Rafi's dream of leaving home to become an artist has, in a few short weeks, been horribly complicated.