Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Tim Burstall, the celebrated director of Stork, Alvin Purple and numerous other definitive "ocker" comedies, is credited with shaking the moribund Australian film industry out of its torpor. But long before that, in the early 1950s, he began keeping a diary to record the world of the group of "arties" and "intellectuals" he was living among in Eltham, then a rural area outside Melbourne, where cheap land was available for mudbrick houses and studios, and where suburban rigidities could be mercilessly flouted.

'Burstall was in his mid-twenties, with two young sons and an open marriage with his wife, Betty. Eager to become a writer, to go against the grain, he kept a record almost daily—of the parties and the talk in pubs and studios, about art and politics and sex, of Communist Party branch meetings and film societies, of political rallies and the first Herald Outdoor Art Show. Somehow, while holding down a public relations job in the Antarctic Division and juggling his love affairs and obsession with the beautiful, brainy Fay, he wrote 500 words almost every day. Betty, according to the diaries, kept the show on the road, feeding friends after the pub, milking goats and working in her pottery making bowls and mugs, which Tim sometimes decorated at weekends.

'These Memoirs of a Young Bastard, as Burstall dubbed himself and them, are among the most evocative Australian diaries of modern times. Burstall can write. He has an eye for the telling detail, an unerring ear for cant and pomposity and, most endearingly, an ability to mock himself—always from the perspective of a bloke of his generation.' (From the publisher's website.)

Contents

* Contents derived from the Carlton, Parkville - Carlton area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,:Miegunyah Press , 2012 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
About the Burstall Diaries, Hilary McPhee , single work criticism (p. vi-xix)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Note: Introduced and annotated by Hilary McPhee with Ann Standish.
    • Carlton, Parkville - Carlton area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Miegunyah Press , 2012 .
      Extent: xxiv, 343p., [18]p. of platesp.
      Description: illus., maps, ports, facsims.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: February 2012.
      • Includes bibliographical references and index.
      ISBN: 9780522858143 (hbk.)
      Series: y separately published work icon Miegunyah Press Series : Second Series Miegunyah Press (publisher), 1995- Z1014067 1995- series - publisher In 1995 The Miegunyah Press became a separate imprint of MUP, and its distinctive window logo appears on all books published in the second series. Titles in the second series include a colophon page at the end of the book that lists the book's editor and designer, the typeface used in the text, the paper on which it is printed, the name of the printer and the number of copies printed. (Adapted from the publisher's website: http://www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/Miegunyah.html) Number in series: 145

Works about this Work

About the Burstall Diaries Hilary McPhee , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 2012; (p. vi-xix)
Follow Your Lusts! John Thompson , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 340 2012; (p. 20-21)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Candid Camera Peter Craven , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 10-11 March 2012; (p. 18-19)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Arty Friends Save the Day Sasha Grishin , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 March 2012; (p. 29)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Diaries of a Philanderer Philip O'Brien , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 March 2012; (p. 16)
Memoirs of a Sexual Rebel, Faded Emlem of an Age Graeme Blundell , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 17 February 2012; (p. 15)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Brickbats in Mudbrick Morag Fraser , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 18 February 2012; (p. 26-27) The Sydney Morning Herald , 25-26 February 2012; (p. 37)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Arty Friends Save the Day Sasha Grishin , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 March 2012; (p. 29)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Candid Camera Peter Craven , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 10-11 March 2012; (p. 18-19)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
Follow Your Lusts! John Thompson , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 340 2012; (p. 20-21)

— Review of The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 Tim Burstall , 2012 single work diary
The Good Life : Lunch with ... Hilary McPhee Jason Steger , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 11 February 2012; (p. 3)
Hilary McPhee talks with Jason Steger about editing Tim Burstall's diaries and also about a project, that did not reach publication, with Crown Prince Hussan of Jordan.
Diaries of a Philanderer Philip O'Brien , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 March 2012; (p. 16)
About the Burstall Diaries Hilary McPhee , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Memoirs of a Young Bastard : The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954 2012; (p. vi-xix)
Last amended 22 May 2012 12:11:29
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