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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon The Travel Writer single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 The Travel Writer
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

London, late 1980s. Ghislaine de Sequeira lies in a hospital bed. Once an obituary writer in Malacca, she had practised eloquence in the face of death for years. But now she is dying, and it is her bereft daughter Isabelle's turn to articulate the meaning of a life at its end. Isabelle tries to find an anchor in this storm by telling her mother's story and by seeking solace in her writing tutor, as many years ago her mother sought solace with the travel writer after the death of her own mother, Mathilde. Seeking to understand her mother's past choices in war-torn Malacca in light of her own persistent desire for love, Isabelle spins a version of Ghislaine's passion for the travel writer, a man who would alter Ghislaine's life - and that of Isabelle - completely. (Publisher's blurb)

Notes

  • Epigraph: What gives light must endure burning. - Victor Frankl

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Picador , 2006 .
      image of person or book cover 5863237127894412993.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 310p.
      ISBN: 9780330422567, 0330422561

Works about this Work

Relations of Difference : Asianness, Indigeneity and Whiteness in Simone Lazaroo's Fiction Robyn Morris , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 32 no. 1-2 2010; (p. 116-129)
Simone Lazaroo's fiction is important in discussions of Australian identity formation for its exploration of acculturated representations of both Asianness and Indigeneity. Her body of work brings to visibility issues of representation, especially the way race and gender are intertwined as artificial constructs of difference within Australian cultural and historical discourse. This article examines how Lazaroo's novels engage in a triangulated contemporary representational politics through the articulation of 'relations of difference' in which characters of Asian, Indigenous and Anglo ancestry interact and react to racialised and gendered inscriptions of otherness. This article explores how Lazaroo critiques the hyper-visuality and sexualising of the Asian female body by the dominant white Anglo Australian society and the concomitant erasure of the Indigenous body and culture in stories of nation in The World Waiting to be Made (1994), The Australian Fiancé (2000), and The Travel Writer (2006). These works signal Lazaroo's ongoing interrogation of the politics of both relations of difference and looking relations. [from Kunapipi 32,1-2, Abstracts, p. 245]
Interview with Simone Lazaroo Paul Giffard-Foret (interviewer), 2008 single work interview
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , July no. 5 2008;
Mirrors of Diversity, or Culture from a Petri Dish?: Products of Australian Writing Programs and a Yardstick of Contemporary Australian Fiction Jane Camens , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 11 no. 2 2007;
'Each year at this time TEXT looks at some of the latest products of Australia's university writing programs.'
Illustrator Wins Top Premier's Book Prize Rod Moran , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 9 June 2007; (p. 7)
Sleeping Dictionary Aviva Tuffield , 2006-2007 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 287 2006-2007; (p. 53)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel
In Short : fiction Michael McGirr , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7-8 October 2006; (p. 34)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel ; The Long Road of the Junkmailer Patrick Holland , 2006 single work novel
Travels among Colonised Women Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 1 no. 2 2006; (p. 11)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel
Love and Belonging Take the Long Route Through Colonialism Danielle Benda , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 28 October 2006; (p. 9)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel
Passionate Tale of Hopeless Infatuations Dorothy Johnston , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 28 October 2006; (p. 13)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 4 November 2006; (p. 31)

— Review of The Travel Writer Simone Lazaroo , 2006 single work novel ; The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers and Selected Stories Delia Falconer , 2006 selected work novel short story
Illustrator Wins Top Premier's Book Prize Rod Moran , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 9 June 2007; (p. 7)
Memorialising the Lost Past Simone Lazaroo , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Diaspora : The Australasian Experience 2005; (p. 433-438)
Mirrors of Diversity, or Culture from a Petri Dish?: Products of Australian Writing Programs and a Yardstick of Contemporary Australian Fiction Jane Camens , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 11 no. 2 2007;
'Each year at this time TEXT looks at some of the latest products of Australia's university writing programs.'
Interview with Simone Lazaroo Paul Giffard-Foret (interviewer), 2008 single work interview
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , July no. 5 2008;
Relations of Difference : Asianness, Indigeneity and Whiteness in Simone Lazaroo's Fiction Robyn Morris , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 32 no. 1-2 2010; (p. 116-129)
Simone Lazaroo's fiction is important in discussions of Australian identity formation for its exploration of acculturated representations of both Asianness and Indigeneity. Her body of work brings to visibility issues of representation, especially the way race and gender are intertwined as artificial constructs of difference within Australian cultural and historical discourse. This article examines how Lazaroo's novels engage in a triangulated contemporary representational politics through the articulation of 'relations of difference' in which characters of Asian, Indigenous and Anglo ancestry interact and react to racialised and gendered inscriptions of otherness. This article explores how Lazaroo critiques the hyper-visuality and sexualising of the Asian female body by the dominant white Anglo Australian society and the concomitant erasure of the Indigenous body and culture in stories of nation in The World Waiting to be Made (1994), The Australian Fiancé (2000), and The Travel Writer (2006). These works signal Lazaroo's ongoing interrogation of the politics of both relations of difference and looking relations. [from Kunapipi 32,1-2, Abstracts, p. 245]
Last amended 28 Mar 2017 10:50:33
Settings:
  • London,
    c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • Malaya, Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
  • 1980s
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