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y separately published work icon The Bodysurfers single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1983... 1983 The Bodysurfers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Haunted by the brutal murder of a local couple, David heads to his weekend shack with his new lover, Lydia, and his children from his recently crumbled marriage. Together they find escape, if only briefly, in the ocean and the bush.

'"The Bodysurfers", the title story of Robert Drewe's classic first collection, is a vivid evocation of love, passion, terror and the beauty of the beach.' (From the publisher's website, 2012 Penguin publication.)

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Bodysurfer Christopher Lee , Suzanne Hawley , Denis Whitburn , ( dir. Ian Barry ) Sydney Australia : John Sexton Productions ABC Television , 1989 Z822410 1989 series - publisher film/TV

A television mini-series based on the award-winning collection of short stories by Robert Drewe, Bodysurfer combines a number of characters and incidents to create a single narrative focusing on the troubled personal life of Sydney architect David Lang. The narrative takes place over a period of some eighteen months, beginning shortly after the failure of Lang's marriage. He begins a series of casual affairs, but memories of his past come flooding back to stir his feelings of guilt and he has a breakdown.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Bodysurfers Robert Drewe , Darlinghurst : James Fraser Publishing , 1983 Z442291 1983 selected work short story

    'Set among the surf and sandhills of the Australian beach – and the tidal changes of three generations of the Lang family – The Bodysurfers is an Australian classic. A short-story collection which has become a bestseller and been adapted for film, television, radio and the theatre, The Bodysurfers on its first publication marked a major change in Australian literature.'

    Source: Publisher's blurb (Penguin 2009 ed.)

         Darlinghurst : James Fraser Publishing , 1983     pg. 109-129
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Personal Best : Thirty Australian Authors Choose Their Best Short Stories Garry Disher , Sydney : Collins , 1989 Z468599 1989 anthology short story autobiography biography humour Sydney : Collins , 1989 pg. 268-285
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Making Connections : Six Australian Short Story Writers Brian Keyte (editor), Melbourne : Addison Wesley Longman Australia , 1997 Z221043 1997 anthology short story criticism

    The stories chosen chart the emotions and the experiences of human beings living at particular times and in particular places. Collected as the landmark of a new millennium approached, the stories represent an interest at that time in past and future.

         Melbourne : Addison Wesley Longman Australia , 1997     pg. 3-19
    Note: Brief explanation of story's meaning by Robert Drewe, p3.
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2012 .
      person or book cover
      Courtesy of Penguin.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 23 April 2012.
      ISBN: 9781742535784 (ebk.)
      Series: y separately published work icon Penguin Shorts Penguin (publisher), Camberwell : Penguin , 2012- Z1858634 2012 series - publisher short story prose correspondence autobiography

      'Penguin Shorts, Penguin's digital series of short works, offers readers engaging, entertaining non-fiction and fiction for approximately the same price as a cup of coffee, designed to be read over a long commute or during a lunch hour.

      'Shorts colours are inspired by the original Penguin Livery: Orange - Fiction, Dark blue - Memoir, Yellow - History, Pink - Cookery and Turquoise - Contemporary nonfiction.

      '"Our ambition in this digital publishing venture is not to experiment with quality but with form: our aim is to fill a current gap by bringing readers high-quality work that is too short for a book and too long for a magazine, so that you need never be without a something satisfying to read."' - Ben Ball, Publishing Director, Penguin General

      Source: Penguin website, http://www.penguin.com.au/
      Sighted: 07/05/2012
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Works about this Work

Solace by the Sea Fiona Capp , 2004 single work essay
— Appears in: The Age , 13 March 2004; (p. 8)
Solace by the Sea Fiona Capp , 2004 single work essay
— Appears in: The Age , 13 March 2004; (p. 8)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (1)
Last amended 7 May 2012 10:58:28
Subjects:
  • Coast,
  • Pearl Beach, Woy Woy area, Gosford, Central Coast, New South Wales,
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