y separately published work icon A Collapsible Man single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1975... 1975 A Collapsible Man
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

‘Everything Is Visible’ : Considering Laurie Clancy’s Perfect Love Hermina Burns , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 4 2014;

'By the time Laurie Clancy’s second novel Perfect Love was published in 1983, Clancy had established himself as an academic, critic, short story writer and novelist. Westerly had published his first short story ‘The Wife Specialist’ in 1971. A debut novel The Collapsible Man followed in 1975, to some critical acclaim. It was to share the National Book Council Award of that year. A collection of short stories under the title of his first published short story appeared in 1978. He was already working on his Reader’s Guide to Australian Fiction, though it took a decade to complete, being published in 1992. ' (Author's introduction)

Laurie Clancy as Novelist of the Secular City John McLaren , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 4 2014;

'Laurie Clancy is very much a writer of the modern secular city. Although he was brought up in a Catholic household, he had left the Church well before he left school. The world he describes in his fiction is a post-modern world, where there is no God to offer comfort or authority to offer meaning. Clancy approaches this world from a realist perspective, but his realism breaks down as his characters find their efforts to make sense or to find fulfilment break down into fragmentary episodes of frustration or futility. Indeed he published many of these individual scenes as separate short stories. Even in the novels the narratives tend to collapse into series of fragments, rather than follow any kind of progression towards unity. These fragments record the frustrated attempts of his characters to create a unity in their experience, or to bend the outer world to their desires. Their constant failures produce an absurdity that ranges from the farcical to the tragic. ' (Author's introduction)

Clancy has Never Written Finer Fiction David Foster , 1993 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 February 1993; (p. rev 6)
Untitled Jamie Grant , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 44-45)

— Review of Perfect Love : A Novel Laurie Clancy , 1983 single work novel ; A Collapsible Man Laurie Clancy , 1975 single work novel
Freedom from Mother Church : The Stephen Hero Image in Australian Literature D. J. O'Hearn , 1986 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia and Ireland 1788-1988 : Bicentenary Essays 1986; (p. 24-33)
On the Occasion of Reading Seven Australian Book Length Pieces of Fiction (at least) Garrie Hutchinson , 1975 single work review
— Appears in: Makar , December vol. 11 no. 3 1975; (p. 42-51)

— Review of Johnno : A Novel David Malouf , 1975 single work novel ; A Place Among People Rodney Hall , 1975 single work novel ; The Short Story Embassy : A Novel Michael Wilding , 1975 single work novel ; The West Midland Underground : Stories Michael Wilding , 1975 selected work short story ; Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane , 1974 single work novel ; A Collapsible Man Laurie Clancy , 1975 single work novel ; Contemporary Portraits and Other Stories Murray Bail , 1975 selected work short story
Untitled Jamie Grant , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 44-45)

— Review of Perfect Love : A Novel Laurie Clancy , 1983 single work novel ; A Collapsible Man Laurie Clancy , 1975 single work novel
[Review] A Collapsible Man Katharine England , 1976 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 14 February 1976; (p. 24)

— Review of A Collapsible Man Laurie Clancy , 1975 single work novel
Mirrors and Backward Glances : Some Recent Autobiographical Novels Ray Ericksen , 1976 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Spring vol. 35 no. 3 1976; (p. 330-333)

— Review of Johnno : A Novel David Malouf , 1975 single work novel ; A Collapsible Man Laurie Clancy , 1975 single work novel ; Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane , 1974 single work novel ; Early Promise D. R. Burns , 1975 single work novel
Clancy of the Fiction Flow Stuart Sayers , 1983 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 5 November, 1983; (p. 14)
Clancy has Never Written Finer Fiction David Foster , 1993 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 February 1993; (p. rev 6)
Freedom from Mother Church : The Stephen Hero Image in Australian Literature D. J. O'Hearn , 1986 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia and Ireland 1788-1988 : Bicentenary Essays 1986; (p. 24-33)
Laurie Clancy as Novelist of the Secular City John McLaren , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 4 2014;

'Laurie Clancy is very much a writer of the modern secular city. Although he was brought up in a Catholic household, he had left the Church well before he left school. The world he describes in his fiction is a post-modern world, where there is no God to offer comfort or authority to offer meaning. Clancy approaches this world from a realist perspective, but his realism breaks down as his characters find their efforts to make sense or to find fulfilment break down into fragmentary episodes of frustration or futility. Indeed he published many of these individual scenes as separate short stories. Even in the novels the narratives tend to collapse into series of fragments, rather than follow any kind of progression towards unity. These fragments record the frustrated attempts of his characters to create a unity in their experience, or to bend the outer world to their desires. Their constant failures produce an absurdity that ranges from the farcical to the tragic. ' (Author's introduction)

‘Everything Is Visible’ : Considering Laurie Clancy’s Perfect Love Hermina Burns , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 4 2014;

'By the time Laurie Clancy’s second novel Perfect Love was published in 1983, Clancy had established himself as an academic, critic, short story writer and novelist. Westerly had published his first short story ‘The Wife Specialist’ in 1971. A debut novel The Collapsible Man followed in 1975, to some critical acclaim. It was to share the National Book Council Award of that year. A collection of short stories under the title of his first published short story appeared in 1978. He was already working on his Reader’s Guide to Australian Fiction, though it took a decade to complete, being published in 1992. ' (Author's introduction)

Last amended 23 Feb 2005 12:18:06
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  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • 1960s
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