When Devils Call single work   short story   adventure  
Issue Details: First known date: 1998... 1998 When Devils Call
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Across Country : Stories from Aboriginal Australia Kerry Davies (editor), Sydney : ABC Books , 1998 Z24479 1998 anthology short story

    'Collection of stories by Aboriginal people from across Australia, dealing with topics such as coming to terms with the past, coping with racism, relationships, childhood, work and the future. Contributors include Beatrice Ballangarry, John Clark, Bruce Pascoe and Janice Slater.' (Source: Google Books website)

         Sydney : ABC Books , 1998     pg. 224-228
Alternative title: Quand les diables s'en melent
Language: French
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Le pacte du serpent arc-en-ciel The Rainbow Snake's Convenant Alexis Wright , Arles : Actes Sud , 2002 Z1065961 2002 selected work short story

    Le serpent arc-en-ciel rampe sous le bush stérile du Nord de l’Australie lointaine. Il est pour les Aborigènes le serpent de la Création, celui qui unit les hommes et le monde qu’ils habitent. Et, quand ce monde est remodelé, détruit par des colons qui se le sont approprié, le sort des Aborigènes n’est plus que perte d’identité.

    C’est une déchéance qui est dite ici. Sous forme de portraits, de scènes de vie, Alexis Wright brosse le quotidien peu reluisant de gens qui bien souvent n’ont le choix qu’entre prison, centre de désintoxication ou suicide.

    Tel le serpent qui pourrait bien ressortir de terre et raconter la véritable histoire, Alexis Wright parle pour ceux qui n’ont plus de voix, décrypte le réel en scrutant les âmes et charge son écriture de toute la force d’un imaginaire ancestral. (Source: Actes Sud website)

    English Translation:

    'The rainbow snake slithers under the sterile bush of distant Northern Australia. For the Aboriginal people, he is the snake of Creation, the one who unites men and the world they inhabit. And when this world is remodelled, destroyed by the settlers who have reclaimed it, the fate of Aborigines is reduced to a loss of their identity.'

    'A tale of degradation is told here. Through the use of portraits, of scenes of life, Alexis Wright paints the everyday life of people who often only have a choice between jail, a detox centre or suicide.'

    'Like the snake who could well come out of the earth once more and recount the true story, Alexis Wright speaks for those who no longer have a voice, decrypts the reality by scrutinising the souls and charges her writing with all the strength of an ancestral imagination.' (English translation by Maelle Farquhar, 2013)

         Arles : Actes Sud , 2002     pg. 95-103
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Works about this Work

Alexis Wright's Publishing History in Three Contexts : Australian Aboriginal, National, and International Per Henningsgaard , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 107-124)

'In order to better understand and appreciate Alexis Wright's publishing history, it is important to first place it in the context of the publishing history of Australian Aboriginal literature. Only then can one properly situate it in the larger context of Australian literature. Finally, for full effect, Wright's publishing history should be placed in the context of the international literary marketplace.' (Introduction)
Framing the Unutterable: Reading Trauma in Alexis Wright's Short Fiction Demelza Hall , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 92-106) 'Alexis Wright's literary works are regularly discussed in relation to the ways in which they bring Indigenous perspectives, experiences, and histories to the foreground. Following Carpentaria's Miles Franklin Award win in 2007, Wright claimed that—writing from her own Indigenous "viewpoint"—she tries "to bring out the way" many Indigenous Australians "think as people," to share what she terms "something of our humanity, something of our character, something of our soul" (O'Brien 217). An awareness of the dynamics underpinning Indigenous exposition and cross-cultural exchange are integral to understanding Wright's oeuvre. Yet while close readings of Wright's literary works need be attuned to the "things" that are being expressively shared (modes of storytelling), I propose that such analyses also need to be conscious of the halts, silences, and gaps in her narratives: the unarticulated spaces that may connote trauma. Drawing on Alison Ravenscroft's approach to reading trauma in "Indigenous-signed texts"—a reading technique that focuses on elements of the unknown, or "nodes of silence"—this essay examines some of the ways in which the unspeakable is conveyed in Wright's short fiction and how the manipulation of oral forms contributes to wider processes of cultural regeneration (Ravenscroft, Postcolonial 16).' (Introduction)
Framing the Unutterable: Reading Trauma in Alexis Wright's Short Fiction Demelza Hall , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 92-106) 'Alexis Wright's literary works are regularly discussed in relation to the ways in which they bring Indigenous perspectives, experiences, and histories to the foreground. Following Carpentaria's Miles Franklin Award win in 2007, Wright claimed that—writing from her own Indigenous "viewpoint"—she tries "to bring out the way" many Indigenous Australians "think as people," to share what she terms "something of our humanity, something of our character, something of our soul" (O'Brien 217). An awareness of the dynamics underpinning Indigenous exposition and cross-cultural exchange are integral to understanding Wright's oeuvre. Yet while close readings of Wright's literary works need be attuned to the "things" that are being expressively shared (modes of storytelling), I propose that such analyses also need to be conscious of the halts, silences, and gaps in her narratives: the unarticulated spaces that may connote trauma. Drawing on Alison Ravenscroft's approach to reading trauma in "Indigenous-signed texts"—a reading technique that focuses on elements of the unknown, or "nodes of silence"—this essay examines some of the ways in which the unspeakable is conveyed in Wright's short fiction and how the manipulation of oral forms contributes to wider processes of cultural regeneration (Ravenscroft, Postcolonial 16).' (Introduction)
Alexis Wright's Publishing History in Three Contexts : Australian Aboriginal, National, and International Per Henningsgaard , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 107-124)

'In order to better understand and appreciate Alexis Wright's publishing history, it is important to first place it in the context of the publishing history of Australian Aboriginal literature. Only then can one properly situate it in the larger context of Australian literature. Finally, for full effect, Wright's publishing history should be placed in the context of the international literary marketplace.' (Introduction)
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Last amended 21 Oct 2009 13:46:41
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