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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Beatrice Davis, 1909-1992, was general editor at Angus and Robertson the main Australian publishing company from 1937 to 1973. There she discovered and published such writers as Thea Astley, Miles Franklin, Patricia Wrightson, Xavier Herbert and Hal Porter becoming a literary tastemaker in the process. A central figure in Australian literature – ‘respected, feared, courted and berated.’
'Originally published to great acclaim in 2001, A Certain Style introduced this stylish and formidable woman to thousands of readers and told a history of books and publishing in twentieth-century Australia. This reissue has a new introduction and updates throughout as the author presents a compelling account of a contradictory woman and her times.' (Source : 2018 edition)
Notes
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Dedication: For my father Lance Albert Kent (1917-1997).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Tracking Changes
Alexandra Payne
(interviewer),
2018
single work
interview
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , August vol. 98 no. 1 2018; (p. 20)"Seventeen years after A Certain Style was first published, Jacqueline Kent's biography of Australia's first full-time book editor Beatrice Davis is being reissued for a new generation of publishing aficionados. Kent spoke with former UQP nonfiction publisher Alexandra Payne about what's changed in the editing profession since Davis' time." (Introduction)
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Country and Lives : Australian Biography and Its History
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cercles , no. 35 2015; 'There have been attempts to relate national characteristics “by reference to climate, habitat and soil and investing the collective subject with psychological attributes” for over two millennia. More recently historians of modern nationalism developed elaborate typologies often citing Martin Heidegger’s arguments that “the being of the human finds its essence in the being of place — the belonging together of being and topos” [MALPAS 2012 : 5-6]. And yet the challenge to the ontological connection between self and place, what Jeff Malpas describes as the “topological analysis of self and identity”, has a long philosophical tradition, too. This debate over experience, biography and nation has implications for historians who have raised empirical questions about the development of collective sensibilities over time among recent emigrant peoples, their physical peculiarities, behaviourial quirks and emergent national character. In this paper I consider the role that biography writing played in the construction of an Australian national identity geared to what Pierre Nora famously termed as the “roman national”, or the collective discourse on the history of the nation and its place in the world. I argue that Australian historians played a significant role in the history of biograpy writing and, related to it, the debate over collective Australian identity.' (Introduction) -
Lives and Letters
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present 2001 single work biography -
[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 1 no. 2002; (p. 109-111)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography -
Precarious Power
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 13 no. 2 2002;
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography
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[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 1 no. 2002; (p. 109-111)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography -
Lives and Letters
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present 2001 single work biography -
[Review] A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 July 2001; (p. 8-9)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography -
Lady of the Literati
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25-26 August 2001; (p. 12-13)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography -
A Small, Sharp Gemstone
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 1 September 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life 2001 single work biography -
Discovering Beatrice
2001
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 July 2001; (p. 8-9) -
On Queen Bea's Trail
2001
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 August 2001; (p. 15) -
An Editor Who Ruled with a Certain Style
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 12 August 2001; (p. 54) -
Stylish Review of Queen Bea's Life Between the Covers
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 23-24 March 2002; (p. 15) -
A Certain Winning Style
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 8 May 2002; (p. 3)
Awards
- 2002 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2002 winner Kibble Literary Awards — Nita Kibble Literary Award
- 2002 winner National Biography Award