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"In the 1950s Charmian Clift and her husband decided to escape the cold and routine of London for the warmth of the Greek island, Kalymnos. Far from the tourist trail, Kalymnos was bare and poor - an escape, but by no means paradise. Yet as the months went by, Clift and her family became part of the community. This book captures the essence of island life."
- Bookdepository.com
Notes
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Also published in braille and sound recording formats.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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I Love Reading New Books but I Find Equal Joy in Rediscovering Old Friends – or Frenemies
2021
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 23 June 2021;'One new friend is Charmian Clift’s Mermaid Singing, a memoir of trauma and self-discovery and a reminder of what could have been.'
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Island Odyssey Revisited
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15 May 2021; (p. 4) -
Three Ways of Looking at Kalymnos : Charmian Clift’s Differing Versions of One Greek Island
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019; 'In 1951, married Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, feeling stifled by postwar conservatism, left Sydney behind to find a more ‘authentic’ way of living. They went first to London, the mecca for Australian literary expatriates, where there was no shortage of work and culture, but where they quickly felt trapped by the ‘rat-race’ mentality of a modern city. So in 1954 they left again, this time for the Greek islands, disposing of material possessions and cutting many of their personal ties. Hoping for a permanent shift from mundane to romantic, they embraced the shining ideals offered by Greek island life: other-worldly beauty; ‘simple’ Greek lifestyles, and freedom from the many pressures of the ‘real’ world.' (Introduction) -
Charmain Clift and George Johnston, Hydra 1960 : The 'Lost' Photographs of James Burke
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 73 no. 1 2014; (p. 18-37)'In one of her many essays, Charmian Clift writes of the melancholic experience of feeling like a photograph. She has been asked to address a group of students at Wollongong High School, a school she had attended, and in preparing her speech she turns to a photograph that appears in the school's fiftieth-anniversary commemorative booklet. The photograph depicts a class from Clift's time at the school, 'formally posed with the boys lined up behind the girls and their hands resting on the girls' shoulders' ('On Turning slightly Sepia', p. 48 (see References below)), and as photographs do it evokes in Clift's memory small details that are not evidenced in the image itself: 'I can still see one of those girls arched in a perfect swallow dive, and remember precisely a collar of little pearl buttons on a blue crepe dress that another of them wore to an end-of-term dance that year'(48). The photograph also prompts Clift to consider how different her teenage circumstances were from those of the students she is to speak to, their faces shining with the confidence that faith in the goodness of the future affords. Before those faces now momentarily turned to her, she thinks of herself as the past, and wonders, 'if they realized that standing up before them I knew myself to be curling at the edges and turning slightly sepia' (51).' (Publication abstract)
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Loving Europe : Peel Me a Lotus and Australian Women Writing Travel
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 217-224)
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Revisiting the Worlds of Charmian Clift
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 4 July 1992; (p. C9)
— Review of Peel Me a Lotus 1959 single work autobiography ; Honour's Mimic 1964 single work novel ; Mermaid Singing 1956 single work autobiography ; The Sponge Divers 1955 single work novel ; Images in Aspic 1965 selected work prose -
Clift's Gifts: Rich Imagery and Sharp Observation
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11-12 July 1992; (p. rev 6)
— Review of Images in Aspic 1965 selected work prose ; Honour's Mimic 1964 single work novel ; Mermaid Singing 1956 single work autobiography ; The Sponge Divers 1955 single work novel -
Away from It All
1958
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 2 April vol. 79 no. 4077 1958; (p. 58)
— Review of Mermaid Singing 1956 single work autobiography -
Charmain Clift
2011
single work
biography
— Appears in: Notorious Australian Women 2011; (p. 232-245) -
A Paperback Renaissance
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 102 1988; (p. 30-32) -
Mermaid Singing
i
"A creative life on islands Greek,",
1983
single work
poetry
satire
— Appears in: Oz Shrink Lit. 1983; (p. 57) -
Loving Europe : Peel Me a Lotus and Australian Women Writing Travel
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 217-224) -
Charmain Clift and George Johnston, Hydra 1960 : The 'Lost' Photographs of James Burke
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 73 no. 1 2014; (p. 18-37)'In one of her many essays, Charmian Clift writes of the melancholic experience of feeling like a photograph. She has been asked to address a group of students at Wollongong High School, a school she had attended, and in preparing her speech she turns to a photograph that appears in the school's fiftieth-anniversary commemorative booklet. The photograph depicts a class from Clift's time at the school, 'formally posed with the boys lined up behind the girls and their hands resting on the girls' shoulders' ('On Turning slightly Sepia', p. 48 (see References below)), and as photographs do it evokes in Clift's memory small details that are not evidenced in the image itself: 'I can still see one of those girls arched in a perfect swallow dive, and remember precisely a collar of little pearl buttons on a blue crepe dress that another of them wore to an end-of-term dance that year'(48). The photograph also prompts Clift to consider how different her teenage circumstances were from those of the students she is to speak to, their faces shining with the confidence that faith in the goodness of the future affords. Before those faces now momentarily turned to her, she thinks of herself as the past, and wonders, 'if they realized that standing up before them I knew myself to be curling at the edges and turning slightly sepia' (51).' (Publication abstract)
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Greek islands,
cGreece,cWestern Europe, Europe,
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Kalymnos,
Greek islands,
cGreece,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1950s