AustLit

'Pascal talks about F. B. Vickers's The Mirage and "Half-Caste" Aboriginals. F. B. Vickers's The Mirage is a novel that has not been well remembered. Reviewers of the mid 1950s who noticed it were admiring, especially those who had themselves written works focusing upon Aboriginal Australians. Roland Robinson wrote that it was "important both as a work of art and as a plea for understanding and reform" (24); Gavin Casey's Sunday Telegraph review declared "its appearance would be a major literary event in any month in any country" (26 June 1955). In private letters to Vickers, prominent writers were equally effusive.' (Editor's abstract)