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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Wonders of a Godless World single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Wonders of a Godless World
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'On an unnamed island, in a Gothic hospital sitting in the shadow of a volcano, a wordless orphan girl works on the wards housing the insane and the incapable. When a silent, unmoving and unnerving new patient - a foreigner - arrives at the hospital, strange phenomena occur, bizarre murders take place, and the lives of the patients and the island's inhabitants are thrown into turmoil. What happens between them is an extraordinary exploration of consciousness, reality and madness.' (Provided by the publisher.)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 3308245705403482100.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 327p.
      Note/s:
      • Published September 2009 
      ISBN: 9781741758092
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Blue Door ,       2010 .
      image of person or book cover 9021334150639453750.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 336p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date 27 May 2010
      ISBN: 9780007352630
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Braille.
  • Large print.
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Works about this Work

Dorothy Green Memorial Lecture : Archipelagic Space and the Uncertain Future of National Literatures Elizabeth McMahon , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 2 2013;

'This essay joins in the discussion about the future of national literatures in the shifting formations of globalisation. Specifically, I want to interrogate what we mean by the future when we speak of literature and, specifically, of Australian or New Zealand literature.

The essay proposes a literary cartography that overlays the alienation of this ‘no world’ with the ‘no-place’ of island utopias as they are mobilised in archipelagic chains or threads. This alternative model of spatial relationality and dynamism differs from conventional global traffic. It is a cartography derived from islands: from their history, fictions, and their theorists. This project is at least partly utopian in a strictly generic sense; that is, in its implication in the reading practices and politics of utopian texts.' (Author's abstract)
Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World : A Transparent Space of Darkness Salhia Ben-Messahel , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth Essays and Studies , Autumn vol. 35 no. 1 2012; (p. 93-102) 'Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World (2009) explores consciousness, reality and madness through the main viewpoints of two odd and mysterious characters. Set in a psychiatric ward reminiscent of Bentham's panopticon, the story is an eye-opening journey into a transparent society characterized by the singular connections it makes between the visible and the invisible. Dreams and fantasy delineate spaces of otherness that call forth questions of perspective and reliability. The multi-layered narrative combines strategies of invisibility with the staging of the self so that while transparency normally implies openness, communication, and accountability, it can also operate in such a way that it becomes difficult to ascertain the characters' actions.' (Author's abstract)
Kill Your Darlings in Conversation with Andrew McGahan 2012 single work interview
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , July no. 10 2012; (p. 109-136)
Pathological Geomorphology and the Ecological Sublime Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World Brigid Rooney , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 72 no. 3 2012; (p. 55-77)
Wonders of a Godless World by Andrew McGahan Satima Flavell , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Specusphere , February no. 12 2010;
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
Visions of Wonder Diane Stubbings , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 26 September 2009; (p. 13)
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
Islands of Disasters Fran Metcalf , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 - 4 October 2009; (p. 20-21)
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
Books Sandy McCutcheon , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 - 4 October 2009; (p. 22)
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
Fine, but Mostly Clouded Geordie Williamson , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2009; (p. 22-23)
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
Books Susan Hewitt , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 10 October 2009; (p. 20)
— Review of Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel ; King of the Cross Mark Dapin , 2009 single work novel ; The Paperbark Shoe Goldie Goldbloom , 2009 single work novel
In Thrall to the Power of Nature Jane Sullivan , 2009 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 October 2009; (p. 26-27) The Age , 10 October 2009; (p. 24-25)
Kill Your Darlings in Conversation with Andrew McGahan 2012 single work interview
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , July no. 10 2012; (p. 109-136)
Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World : A Transparent Space of Darkness Salhia Ben-Messahel , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth Essays and Studies , Autumn vol. 35 no. 1 2012; (p. 93-102) 'Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World (2009) explores consciousness, reality and madness through the main viewpoints of two odd and mysterious characters. Set in a psychiatric ward reminiscent of Bentham's panopticon, the story is an eye-opening journey into a transparent society characterized by the singular connections it makes between the visible and the invisible. Dreams and fantasy delineate spaces of otherness that call forth questions of perspective and reliability. The multi-layered narrative combines strategies of invisibility with the staging of the self so that while transparency normally implies openness, communication, and accountability, it can also operate in such a way that it becomes difficult to ascertain the characters' actions.' (Author's abstract)
Pathological Geomorphology and the Ecological Sublime Andrew McGahan's Wonders of a Godless World Brigid Rooney , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 72 no. 3 2012; (p. 55-77)
Dorothy Green Memorial Lecture : Archipelagic Space and the Uncertain Future of National Literatures Elizabeth McMahon , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 2 2013;

'This essay joins in the discussion about the future of national literatures in the shifting formations of globalisation. Specifically, I want to interrogate what we mean by the future when we speak of literature and, specifically, of Australian or New Zealand literature.

The essay proposes a literary cartography that overlays the alienation of this ‘no world’ with the ‘no-place’ of island utopias as they are mobilised in archipelagic chains or threads. This alternative model of spatial relationality and dynamism differs from conventional global traffic. It is a cartography derived from islands: from their history, fictions, and their theorists. This project is at least partly utopian in a strictly generic sense; that is, in its implication in the reading practices and politics of utopian texts.' (Author's abstract)
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Awards

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