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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Liza used to say that she saw her past life as a string of roughly-graded balls, and so did Hilda have a linear conception of hers, thinking of it as a track with detours. But for some years now I have likened mine to a globe suspended in my head, and ever since the shocking realisation that waste is irretrievalbe, I have been careful not to let this globe spin to expose the nether side on which my marriage has left its multitude of images.
'Nora Porteous has spent most of her life waiting to escape. Fleeing from her small-town family and then from her stifling marriage to a mean-spirited husband, Nora arrives finally in London where she creates a new life for herself as a successful dressmaker.
'Now in her seventies, Nora returns to Queensland to settle into her childhood home.
'But Nora has been away a long time, and the people and events of her past are not at all like she remembered them. And while some things never change, Nora is about to discover just how selective her 'globe of memory' has been.
'Tirra Lirra by the River is a moving account of one woman's remarkable life, a beautifully written novel which displays the lyrical brevity of Jessica Anderson's award-winning style.' (Publication summary)
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable For
AC: Year 12 (Literature Unit 4)
Themes
independence, memory, relationships, the loss of innocence, the search for connection
General Capabilities
Ethical understanding, Intercultural understanding
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Sustainability
Contents
- Afterword, single work essay
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille, sound recording, large print.
Works about this Work
-
The Crystal Mirror or the Book That Wasn’t
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2020;'Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River is one of the few Australian novels of the 1970s that has remained in print since its first release. By contrast, to take just one example, four-time Miles Franklin winner Thea Astley’s books have been out of print a few times – this remains the case for The Acolyte, which won the Miles Franklin in 1972. Perhaps in part because of its easily digestible length, Tirra Lirra is a staple of high school and university curricula. Tirra Lirra tells the story of Nora Porteus’ return to her family home in Brisbane after decades overseas. As she is ill and is nearing the end of her life, Nora’s mind turns to her past, her ex-husband, friends, and the interplay of art and labour.' (Introduction)
-
A Colonial Vistion of Camelot
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Unbound : The National Library of Australia Magazine , December 2018; -
y
Texts and Textiles : Affect, Synaesthesia and Metaphor in Fiction
Newcastle upon Tyne
:
Cambridge Scholars Press
,
2017
11791282
2017
multi chapter work
criticism
'This study shows how fiction that makes use of textiles as an essential element utilizes synaesthetic writing and synaesthetic metaphor to create an affective link to, and response in, the reader. These links and responses are examined using affect theory from Silvan Tomkins and Brian Massumi and work on synaesthesia by Richard Cytowic, Lawrence Marks, and V.S. Ramachandran, among others. Synaesthetic writing, including synaesthetic metaphors, has been explored in poetry since the 1920s and, more recently, in fiction, but these studies have been general in nature. By narrowing the field of investigation to those novels that specifically employ three types of hand-crafted textiles (quilt-making, knitting and embroidery), the book isolates how these textiles are used in fiction. The combination of synaesthesia, memory, metaphor and, particularly, synaesthetic metaphor in fiction with textiles in the text of the case studies selected, shows how these are used to create affect in readers, enhancing their engagement in the story.
'The work is framed within the context of the history of textile production and the use of textiles in fiction internationally, but concentrates on Australian authors who have used textiles in their writing. The decision to focus on Australian authors was taken in light of the quality and depth of the writing of textile fiction produced in Australia between 1980 and 2005 in the three categories of hand-crafted textiles – quilt-making, knitting and embroidery. The texts chosen for intensive study are: Kate Grenville’s The Idea of Perfection (1999, quilting); Marele Day’s Lambs of God (1997, knitting) and Anne Bartlett’s Knitting (2005, knitting); Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River (1978, embroidery) and Marion Halligan’s Spider Cup (1990, embroidery).' (Publication summary)
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Coming Closer to the Source
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8 April 2017; (p. 18) 'Ashley Hay finds her acquaintance with a classic Australian novel is moulded by time and place — and a remarkable coincidence.' -
What I Owe : The Effect of Tirra Lirra by the River
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 75 no. 2 2016; (p. 144-153)
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Tirra Lirra by the River
1979
single work
review
— Appears in: Womanspeak , June-July vol. 4 no. 5 1979; (p. 26)
— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River 1978 single work novel -
Exploring the Territory : Some Recent Australian Novels
1979
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 38 no. 2 1979; (p. 225-233) Oceanic Literature , no. 5 1983; (p. 332-345)
— Review of An Imaginary Life : A Novel 1978 single work novel ; The Year of Living Dangerously 1978 single work novel ; Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel ; Idlers in the Land 1978 single work novel ; Tirra Lirra by the River 1978 single work novel ; The Bitter Lotus 1978 single work novel ; Where the Queens All Strayed 1978 single work novel ; Silent Reach 1978 single work novel -
Camelot Between the Wars
1980
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 40 no. 3 1980; (p. 360-363)
— Review of Water Under the Bridge : A Novel 1977 single work novel ; Tirra Lirra by the River 1978 single work novel -
[Review] Tirra Lirra by the River
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 6 1978;
— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River 1978 single work novel -
[Review] Tirra Lirra by the River
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The National Times , 9 September 1978; (p. 41)
— Review of Tirra Lirra by the River 1978 single work novel -
Tirra Lirra by the Brisbane River
1981
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 10 no. 1 1981; (p. 101-110) -
Queensland Literature : Is It Different?
1987
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 15 no. 3 1987; (p. 45-51) -
'Where No Knight in Armour Has Ever Trod' : The Arthurianism of Jessica Anderson's Heroines
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Medievalism and the Gothic in Australian Culture 2006; (p. 61-80) Louise D'Arcens examines the differences in the way two heroines from novels by Jessica Anderson read Arthurian legends. She suggests that 'the transition between the two heroines' medievalisms reflects the changing significance of the Middle Ages as an imaginative prism through which Australian experience has been refracted. The development they embody [...] is an index of Australia's transition from colonial dependency at the beginning of the twentieth century to cultural autonomy and sovereignty a the century's end' (62-63). -
Women, Law and Literature : Representations of Women and the Law in American and Australian Fiction
1994
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Happy Couple : Law and Literature 1994; (p. 99-113) -
Tirra Lirra by the River : Jessica Anderson (1916- )
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Classics : Fifty Great Writers and Their Celebrated Works 2007; (p. 183-186)
Awards
- 2010 shortlisted Australian Book Review Fan Poll
- 1978 winner Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 1978 joint winner FAW ANA Literature Award
- Urban,
-
London,
cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
- Brisbane, Queensland,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1900s
- 1910s
- 1920s
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
- 1930s