AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A woman on a passenger ship in 1958 gets involved with a young, wild Barry Humphries. A man looks back to the 1970s, and his time as a member of Australia’s least competent scout troop. In 1988, a teenage boy recalls his sexual initiation, out on the tanbark. In 2015, two sisters text in Kmart about how to manage their irascible mother.
'Then, in the near future, a racist demagogue – a kind of Australian Trump – talks to the press the day after his electoral triumph. As the cities heat up and lose their water, a lady from one of the ‘better suburbs’ makes every effort to get her family, and her dog, into a gated community.
'This is Australia, in all its glories and its foibles – and its insularity and fear. These stories are a reflection of where we are now, and where we may be headed. Bitingly satirical, outstandingly original and written in a remarkable range of voices, A Couple of Things Before the End is a stand-out fiction debut of 2020.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
y
A Conversation with Sean O'Beirne
Chris Somerville
(interviewer),
Melbourne
:
Readings
,
2020
23470034
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Sean O'Beirne chats with Readings bookseller and author Chris Somerville about his debut work of fiction, A Couple of Things Before the End.' (Production summary)
-
What I’m Reading
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2020; -
Four Auspicious Début Collections by Mandy Beaumont, Dominic Carew, Wayne Marshall, and Sean O'Beirne
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 420 2020;
— Review of Wild Fearless Chests 2020 selected work short story ; No Neat Endings : Stories 2020 selected work short story ; Shirl 2020 selected work short story ; A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story'The American writer Jack Matthews had no time for what he called ‘a discontent’ with the brevity of the short story. ‘Ask a coral snake,’ he declared, ‘which is as deadly as it is small.’ The claim for ‘deadliness’ certainly applies to four recent début collections; in the tight spaces of the short story, each one presents confronting ideas about contemporary Australia.' (Introduction)
-
Sean O’Beirne : A Couple of Things Before the End
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 March 2020;
— Review of A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story'Every so often we’re reminded with a jolt that Australian realism doesn’t – to use Patrick White’s phrase – have to be dun-coloured. In fact it can be kinky, it can be ludic, it can be in the tradition of that shaggiest of shaggy-dog stories, Furphy’s Such Is Life, which begins with that immortal and immemorially appealing Australian sentiment, “Unemployed at last!”' (Introduction)
-
[Review] A Couple of Things Before the End
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , February no. 163 2020; (p. 65)
— Review of A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story 'Hailing “a promising new voice” is a useful cliché of criticism, and one which Sean O’Beirne’s debut collection earns as literally, and as variously, as possible. What we have here are not so much stories as miniature monologues detailing a world somewhere between everyday and apocalyptic, and shaped with some of our lowest forms of utterance: political press conferences, YouTube comments, bucks night speeches. It’s rare to see a book so confident in its ability to convert the linguistic detritus of our era into something of lasting value.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] A Couple of Things Before the End
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , February no. 163 2020; (p. 65)
— Review of A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story 'Hailing “a promising new voice” is a useful cliché of criticism, and one which Sean O’Beirne’s debut collection earns as literally, and as variously, as possible. What we have here are not so much stories as miniature monologues detailing a world somewhere between everyday and apocalyptic, and shaped with some of our lowest forms of utterance: political press conferences, YouTube comments, bucks night speeches. It’s rare to see a book so confident in its ability to convert the linguistic detritus of our era into something of lasting value.' (Introduction) -
Sean O’Beirne : A Couple of Things Before the End
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 March 2020;
— Review of A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story'Every so often we’re reminded with a jolt that Australian realism doesn’t – to use Patrick White’s phrase – have to be dun-coloured. In fact it can be kinky, it can be ludic, it can be in the tradition of that shaggiest of shaggy-dog stories, Furphy’s Such Is Life, which begins with that immortal and immemorially appealing Australian sentiment, “Unemployed at last!”' (Introduction)
-
Four Auspicious Début Collections by Mandy Beaumont, Dominic Carew, Wayne Marshall, and Sean O'Beirne
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 420 2020;
— Review of Wild Fearless Chests 2020 selected work short story ; No Neat Endings : Stories 2020 selected work short story ; Shirl 2020 selected work short story ; A Couple of Things Before the End : Stories 2020 selected work short story'The American writer Jack Matthews had no time for what he called ‘a discontent’ with the brevity of the short story. ‘Ask a coral snake,’ he declared, ‘which is as deadly as it is small.’ The claim for ‘deadliness’ certainly applies to four recent début collections; in the tight spaces of the short story, each one presents confronting ideas about contemporary Australia.' (Introduction)
-
What I’m Reading
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2020; -
y
A Conversation with Sean O'Beirne
Chris Somerville
(interviewer),
Melbourne
:
Readings
,
2020
23470034
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Sean O'Beirne chats with Readings bookseller and author Chris Somerville about his debut work of fiction, A Couple of Things Before the End.' (Production summary)
Awards
- 2021 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- 2021 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Literary Fiction Book designed by Peter Long
- 2020 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Australian Short Story Collection - Steele Rudd Award
