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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Across nearly two thousand miles of flat, sandy desert country runs a railway line, linking east and west Australia. Scattered along it are small groups of houses. Here the fettlers live, isolated from towns and other people, maintaining the line in the blazing heat.
At night, out of the blackness the min-min appears, an elusive and mystic light dancing on the horizon, beckoning and retreating. Aborigines tell of the wonder and excitement this small swaying light arouses. To Sylvie, a young girl living with her family at the siding, the gleam in the dark is symbolic of her life and future.
Her brother Reg, a "young rough", is frightened to stay at the siding after some of the mischief he causes. So he and Sylvie set off across the endless desert, carrying insufficient water and some bread and jam, walking under the scorching sun, in dust and wind, and facing icy nights.'
Source: 1966 publisher's blurb.
Notes
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First written as an adult short story titled Sylvie. It won a short story competition in this form but was not published.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Shifting Versions of Masculinity in Australian Children's Literature, 1953-1997
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , vol. 39 no. 2 2001; (p. 6-11) Pennell encountered significant change with regard to the concept of 'masculinity' in Australian realist children's fiction. She decided a major outcome of her research would be a literary sociocultural map of the shifting paradigms of gendered social relations in Australian society. -
'You're a Failure as a Parent, Joe Edwards!': Reconfiguring the Male Parent in Australian Realist Fictions for Children 1966-1986
1999
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , April vol. 9 no. 1 1999; (p. 31-40) Pennell argues that 'within the constraints of their historical contexts, both The Min-Min and All We Know allow us to trace that desired shift in focus of patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity from insisting upon dichotomy and domination in gender relations to foregrounding a concern for the best interests and aspirations of girls and women' (40). She posits that in the context of the time in which they were written, they may be read as subversive and progressive in their problematization of 'hegemonic masculinity as privileged by Western patriarchy' (31), particularly in their reconfiguration of 'gendered social relations' in the domestic sphere' and the representation of male parents and parenting (31). This she considers as no easy task considering 'the traditional configuration of Australian masculinity is antithetical to all that is deemed 'feminine'' (31). -
Representations of Mothers and Mothering in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature
1997
single work
criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 97-107) -
The Outback: In Fear of the Bush
1995
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 71-86) -
Novel Teachers : The Image of Teachers in Australian Children's Literature
1994
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 9 no. 4 1994; (p. 5-8)
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Novel Teachers : The Image of Teachers in Australian Children's Literature
1994
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 9 no. 4 1994; (p. 5-8) -
Representations of Mothers and Mothering in Contemporary Australian Children's Literature
1997
single work
criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 97-107) -
Shifting Versions of Masculinity in Australian Children's Literature, 1953-1997
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , vol. 39 no. 2 2001; (p. 6-11) Pennell encountered significant change with regard to the concept of 'masculinity' in Australian realist children's fiction. She decided a major outcome of her research would be a literary sociocultural map of the shifting paradigms of gendered social relations in Australian society. -
Mavis Thorpe Clark : Lover of the Sunburnt Country
1981
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Innocence and Experience : Essays on Contemporary Australian Children's Writers 1981; (p. 7-29) -
On Accepting the Australian Children's Book Council's Book of the Year Award
1967
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : New Books for Boys and Girls , July no. 27 1967; (p. 3-4) Mavis Thorpe Clark explains the background to her award winning novel The Min Min
Awards
- 1969 winner Notable Book Award (USA)
- 1967 winner CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Book of the Year Award
- Nullarbor area (South Australia), Far North South Australia, South Australia,
- Nullarbor area (Western Australia), Southeast Western Australia, Western Australia,
- Australian Outback, Central Australia,
- Desert,