AustLit
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Ruth Rothwax, a successful, independent, New York woman with her own business, Rothwax Correspondence, can find order and meaning in the words she writes for other people - condolence letters, thank-you letters, even you-were-great-in-bed letters. But as the devoted daughter of Edek Rothwax, an Auschwitz survivor with a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to the English language, Ruth can find no words to help her understand the loss her family experienced during World War II. Ruth is obsessed with the idea of returning to Poland with her father, Edek, but she doesn't quite understand why she feels this so intensely. To make sense of her family's past - and the way her parents' lives were suddenly torn apart by the Nazis - yes. To visit the places where her beloved mother and father lived and almost died, certainly. But there's more to this trip than Ruth's extraordinary perceptiveness can identify. By facing Poland and the past, she can confront her own future.' (Publisher's blurb)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Objects of Return
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: After Testimony: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Holocaust Narrative for the Future 2012; (p. 198-220) Includes discussion of Bracha Lichtenberg-Ettinger (1948- ) and Palestinian author Ghassān Kanafānī, (1936-1972) . -
Europe and its ‘Ends’. Haunting (by) the Past in Christos Tsiolkas’ Dead Europe
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 2 no. 2 2011; (p. 42-52) 'This paper aims at attempting an analysis, by force partial, of white Europe as such a metaphor in the light of recent critical work on whiteness within a European context. Quite obviously, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 strongly impacted upon the numerous and often conflicting discourses related to the construction and reconstruction of global and European identities which followed that momentuous event; I refer here to the lacunar mythical roots Luisa Passerini finds in the idea of Europe itself (2002), to the shadows of the Shoah, but also to studies of European post-socialism in its unpredictable and still underrated connections with post-colonialism and the aftermath (and vampiric debris) of the Cold War.' Marilena Parlati. -
Traces of Trauma: Loss and Longing in Too Many Men
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 6 no. 1 2007; (p. 79-90) 'In both her fiction and autobiographical essays, author Lily Brett describes the process of travelling 'home' to Poland as an adult child of Holocaust survivors. In a close reading of her novel Too Many Men, I will discuss the contemporary concern with returning to the 'past' for a sense of contemporary 'self' represented in this novel. In Too Many Men the protagonist Ruth journeys to Poland with her father, visiting the sites of his former life and the places of his family's destruction. However, the journey represents very different things for these two characters. Sites of memory, 'simulation' and the 'trace' are key ideas adopted in this reading.' (JASAL abstract) -
Poland
2002
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Between Mexico and Poland 2002; (p. 345-442) -
Too Many Men
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Geelong Small Press Publishing 2002;
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel
-
Awash with the Holocaust
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 212 1999; (p. 27-28)
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel -
Unspeakably Wonderful
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 31 July-1 August 1999; (p. 13)
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel -
Discovering that Life is Beautiful
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 31 July 1999; (p. 9)
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel -
Too Many Ghosts
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7 August 1999; (p. 9)
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel -
Long Book's Journey into Right
1999
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 August 1999; (p. 7)
— Review of Too Many Men 1999 single work novel -
Poland
2002
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Between Mexico and Poland 2002; (p. 345-442) -
Traces of Trauma: Loss and Longing in Too Many Men
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 6 no. 1 2007; (p. 79-90) 'In both her fiction and autobiographical essays, author Lily Brett describes the process of travelling 'home' to Poland as an adult child of Holocaust survivors. In a close reading of her novel Too Many Men, I will discuss the contemporary concern with returning to the 'past' for a sense of contemporary 'self' represented in this novel. In Too Many Men the protagonist Ruth journeys to Poland with her father, visiting the sites of his former life and the places of his family's destruction. However, the journey represents very different things for these two characters. Sites of memory, 'simulation' and the 'trace' are key ideas adopted in this reading.' (JASAL abstract) -
Europe and its ‘Ends’. Haunting (by) the Past in Christos Tsiolkas’ Dead Europe
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 2 no. 2 2011; (p. 42-52) 'This paper aims at attempting an analysis, by force partial, of white Europe as such a metaphor in the light of recent critical work on whiteness within a European context. Quite obviously, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 strongly impacted upon the numerous and often conflicting discourses related to the construction and reconstruction of global and European identities which followed that momentuous event; I refer here to the lacunar mythical roots Luisa Passerini finds in the idea of Europe itself (2002), to the shadows of the Shoah, but also to studies of European post-socialism in its unpredictable and still underrated connections with post-colonialism and the aftermath (and vampiric debris) of the Cold War.' Marilena Parlati. -
Objects of Return
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: After Testimony: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Holocaust Narrative for the Future 2012; (p. 198-220) Includes discussion of Bracha Lichtenberg-Ettinger (1948- ) and Palestinian author Ghassān Kanafānī, (1936-1972) . -
A Pounding Heart
2000
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 27 May 2000; (p. 6)
Awards
- 2000 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 2000 winner South East Asia and South Pacific Region — Best Book
- 1999 shortlisted Australian Booksellers Association Awards — Booksellers Choice Award
Last amended 13 Jul 2021 13:16:24
Subjects:
-
cUnited States of America (USA),cAmericas,
-
cPoland,cEastern Europe, Europe,
Export this record