AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Notes
-
Dedication: For Lyndon and Audrey.
-
Epigraph: Dole bread is bitter bread, / Bitter bread and sour, / Grief in the taste of it, / Weevils in the flour, / Weevils in the flour. Old Depression song.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Late Retrospectives on Twentieth-Century Catastrophes–the Novels of Ronald McKie
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 5 2014;'This essay examines the representation of early twentieth-century Australia in three novels, The Mango Tree, The Crushing, and Bitter Bread, which were published in the1970s by the well-known journalist Ronald McKie. The novels make the catastrophes of World War I and the Great Depression, and the frenzies of the intervening Jazz Age palatable and engaging for a later, comparatively comfortable Australian readership. They seek further to reconcile readers with the pain of living by promoting ethics of courage, kindness and decency. The novels assume and defend a central Anglo-Celtic identity for Australians. While they reject English cultural and political control, they value the input of Continental European and Asian immigrants. Living Aboriginal people are a notable absence from all three novels, but The Mango Tree seeks to appropriate Aboriginal feeling for country for the native-born descendants of settlers. Through comic-satiric depictions of life in rural Queensland communities McKie’s fiction warns of the dangers of insularity for the nation as a whole.' (Publication abstract)
-
Recent Fiction
1979
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , June vol. 39 no. 2 1979; (p. 224-227)
— Review of The Hat on the Letter O and Other Stories 1978 selected work short story ; Quarantine 1978 single work novel ; Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
Audacious, Earnest and Instructive
1979
single work
review
— Appears in: The CRNLE Reviews Journal , October no. 2 1979; (p. 39-44)
— Review of Shalom : A Collection of Australian Jewish Stories 1978 anthology short story ; Passenger 1979 single work novel ; Bitter Bread 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 -
Not Quite a Meal
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: 24 Hours , vol. 3 no. 8 1978; (p. 72)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel
-
On the Dole
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 July 1978; (p. 17)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
Varied and Forgettable
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 1 July 1978; (p. 23)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
Of Poverty and Conflict
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 July 1978; (p. 21)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
Neither Documentary Nor Fiction
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The National Times , 5 August 1978; (p. 39)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
A Mature Novel of Gloom
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 26 August 1978; (p. 19)
— Review of Bitter Bread 1978 single work novel -
Late Retrospectives on Twentieth-Century Catastrophes–the Novels of Ronald McKie
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 5 2014;'This essay examines the representation of early twentieth-century Australia in three novels, The Mango Tree, The Crushing, and Bitter Bread, which were published in the1970s by the well-known journalist Ronald McKie. The novels make the catastrophes of World War I and the Great Depression, and the frenzies of the intervening Jazz Age palatable and engaging for a later, comparatively comfortable Australian readership. They seek further to reconcile readers with the pain of living by promoting ethics of courage, kindness and decency. The novels assume and defend a central Anglo-Celtic identity for Australians. While they reject English cultural and political control, they value the input of Continental European and Asian immigrants. Living Aboriginal people are a notable absence from all three novels, but The Mango Tree seeks to appropriate Aboriginal feeling for country for the native-born descendants of settlers. Through comic-satiric depictions of life in rural Queensland communities McKie’s fiction warns of the dangers of insularity for the nation as a whole.' (Publication abstract)
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- 1930s
