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'House of All Nations is Christina Stead's 1938 gripping portrayal of financial world success. Set in an exclusive European bank in the heady days of the early thirties, Stead weaves a remarkable tale of greedy, devious and shady characters, all brought together by their love of money. The director of the bank, Jules Bertillon, leads these gamblers, crooks and prospectors on a treacherous journey navigating political and natural disasters, and using both to his advantage.
'House of All Nations has never been more relevant, as Stead's remarkable work speaks loudly about the modern markets. ' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Published simultaneously in New York and London, but printed in the USA. Davies purchased sheets from Simon and Schuster.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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y
Christina Stead and the Socialist Heritage
Amherst
:
Cambria Press
,
2016
12545973
2016
multi chapter work
criticism
'Christina Stead (1902–1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterizations. Stead enjoyed an international reputation in the 1930s and beyond, then went out of favor as a communist-affiliated writer, until she was rediscovered by feminist critics. Her standing is considerable, and in Australia she vies with Patrick White for the laurel of finest Australian novelist.
'In this book, author Michael Ackland argues that the single most important influence on Stead’s life, socialism, has been seriously neglected in studies of her life and work. Ackland delves into Stead’s political formation prior to her departure for London in 1928, arguing that considerable insights can be added to the known record by reviewing these years within a specifically political context, as well as by interrogating Stead’s own accounts of key persons and events. He examines her novels, from Seven Poor Men of Sydney to I’m Dying Laughing and The Man Who Loved Children, and focuses on Stead’s conception of history, of capitalist finance, and on the significance of the key historical moments that frame her works.
'In tracing the trajectory of her work, Ackland illuminates how Stead was, as a well-informed Marxist critic underscored, a product of thirties. Steeped in socialist literature and steeled to withstand ideological adversity, Stead emerged at the end of the decade a strongly committed novelist, whose intellectual idealism and convictions could, as coming decades would show, long withstand privation, heartbreaks and the unwelcome lessons of history.
'This is an important book for collections in Australian literature, comparative literature, world literature, and women's studies.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
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'Money Is a Steal' : Christina Stead’s Critique of Finance Capitalism in House of All Nations
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 7 no. 1 2016;'Stead composed House of All Nations (1938) at a time of unprecedented economic and political crisis in the West, and the urgency of this situation is reflected in the speed and scope of this composition, and in the major target of her satire: finance capitalism. Her depiction of this Marxist concept, as well as specific allusions to the master's writings, are examined in detail to demonstrate her ideological position and putative aims.' (Publication abstract)
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Guide to the Classics : Christina Stead’s The Beauties and Furies
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 26 September 2016; 'From the beginning Christina Stead’s fiction divided critical opinion, and reactions to The Beauties and Furies, her second novel, were no exception. Where some saw “garrulous pretentiousness”, Clifton Fadiman in the New Yorker found “such streaming imagination, such tireless wit, such intellectual virtuosity” that Stead must be recognised as “the most extraordinary woman novelist produced by the English-speaking race since Virginia Woolf”. ...' -
Christina Stead : Her Luck
2013
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 72 no. 3 2013; (p. 66-78) -
Dreaming of the Middle Ages : The Place of 'mitterlalterlich' and Socialist Awareness in Christina Stead's Early Fiction
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October - November vol. 26 no. 3-4 2011; (p. 54-68)
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[Review] House of All Nations
1938
single work
review
— Appears in: The North Queensland Register , 31 December 1938; (p. 58)
— Review of House of All Nations 1938 single work novel -
Christina Stead's New Novel
1938
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 17 August vol. 59 no. 3053 1938; (p. 2,8)
— Review of House of All Nations 1938 single work novel -
[Review] House of All Nations
1938
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Sun , 14 August 1938;
— Review of House of All Nations 1938 single work novel -
Money Mania
1938
single work
review
— Appears in: Time , 13 June 1938;
— Review of House of All Nations 1938 single work novel -
A Small Hotel Superior to International House
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: Nation Review , 18-24 October 1974; (p. 20)
— Review of House of All Nations 1938 single work novel -
Stead Made Me Do It
1999
single work
criticism
— Appears in: American Scholar , Winter vol. 68 no. 1 1999; (p. 130-135) -
'Those Boys Told Me Everything' : The Politics of the Secretary of Christina Stead's 1930s Fiction
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 17 no. 1 2003; (p. 29-35)Rooney examines how 'Stead's fiction intricately negotiates her encounters with these [the banking and Popular Front politics worlds] divergent "phallocracies" through the multivalent and liminal figure of the secretary.' Rooney notes that while 'Stead's narrative use of the male political secretary safeguards her identity as a socially accepatable women' it also provides 'a context for discerning the nature of her contribution to 1930s debates about capitalism, communism and revolution.'
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A Stuffed Carp: Christina Stead's Analysis of Financiers at Dinner
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 3 2003; (p. 99-109) -
The Forum : On Christina Stead and Our Financial Crisis
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 October 2008; (p. 2) -
'All That Glitters': Illusory Worlds in Christina Stead's 'The Beauties and Furies' (1936) and 'House of All Nations' (1938)
2008
single work
biography
— Appears in: Je Suis Australienne: Remarkable Women in France, 1880-1945 2008; (p. 124-150)