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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Enter the world of a murdered socialite, be consumed by rural madness, be ignited by the longings of an obsessive optometrist, engrossed by unorthodox book-binding, and moved by a heartbreaking meditation on the Oklahoma bombings. With its bewitching language, full of subtle harmonies and rhythms, The Essential Bird takes the reader on a voyage that delights, amazes and fascinates. Carmel Bird weaves fact, fantasy and history into a shimmering fabric of fiction that creates a world of hyper-reality both tender and profound. (Source: back cover)
Notes
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Dedication: For Gerardo
-
Epigraph: Ruby-throated humming bird sips nectar / Black-backed magpie tells tale / 'Papaver Somniferum', Carrillo Mean
Contents
- Made Glorious Summer, single work essay (p. 1-12)
- Shooting the Fox, single work short story (p. 13-24)
- Cave Amantem, single work short story (p. 25-30)
- A Taste of Earth, single work short story (p. 31-36)
- Woodpecker Point, single work short story (p. 37-82)
-
A Telephone Call for Genevieve Snow,
single work
short story
horror
A primary school teacher is stalked by 'the Wolfman.'
- Major Butler's Kidneys, single work biography (p. 89-98)
-
The Golden Moment,
single work
short story
THE GOLDEN MOMENT The story of the golden moment is a story about suburban Australia in the nineteen fifties. The street in which the story takes place is often called ‘the golden mile’ because so many wealthy bankers and barristers and surgeons have for generations lived there in grandeur and comfort with their beautiful wives and happy families. Almost all of these families have very white skins indeed, and are by religion Christians (of the Protestant kind). The rare Jewish or Roman Catholic family is treated with superb tolerance and charity, but it is understood that such families are darkened by a blight too powerful and mysterious to name.
The houses themselves bear the names they were given by the original inhabitants and some of these names reflect a nostalgia for places far away, others expressing a hope in the youthful country of Australia. The style of architecture is labelled ‘Federation’ in recognition of the modern birth of the country itself. The trees and flowers are by and large European, and the branches of the oaks and elms that line the street on one side almost touch those on the other, so that in summer a magical green tunnel arches above the traffic, and people from less beautiful suburbs drive along here just to marvel at the trees along the golden mile. Even ordinary traffic seems to move sedately along the grandest section of the road.
A golden moment is that time of the afternoon photographers love, when the light of day bathes the world in one last glow of radiance, when Paradise is promised, when everything stands still at the instant between the darkness and the light, when fairies and goblins and other spirits good and bad may be revealed.
The golden moment on the golden mile is one of nature’s marvels.(Source: author's website)
- Goczka, single work short story (p. 109-114)
-
Oklahoma
As High as an Elephant's Eye,
single work
prose
(p. 115-139)
Note: With title: Oklahoma
- The Girl in the Freud Museum, single work short story (p. 140-152)
- Buff Orpington and the Disasters of Middle Life Buff Orphington and the Disasters of Middle Life, single work short story (p. 153-160)
- The Man in the Red Car, single work short story (p. 161-171)
- The Right Stuff, single work short story (p. 172-177)
- Automatic Teller, single work short story (p. 178-185)
- Kay Petman's Coloured Pencils, single work short story (p. 186-191)
- The Hair and the Teeth, single work short story (p. 192-197)
- Pomona Avenue, single work short story (p. 198-204)
- Higher Animals, single work short story (p. 205-208)
- Buttercup and Wendy, single work short story (p. 209-215)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille, sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Short Order a Welcome Change
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 25 June 2005; (p. 4)
— Review of Vincenzo's Garden 2005 selected work short story ; The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Florid Rhetoric
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 272 2005; (p. 47)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
In Short : Fiction
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14-15 May 2005; (p. 26)
— Review of The Never Boys 2005 single work novel ; Hope Bay 2005 single work novel ; The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Bird's Eye View
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 14 May 2005; (p. 5)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Bird's-Eye View of the Everyday World
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 May 2005; (p. 13)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose
-
Worlds Steeped in Colour
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 April-1 May 2005; (p. R14)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose ; Vincenzo's Garden 2005 selected work short story -
Bird's-Eye View of the Everyday World
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 May 2005; (p. 13)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Bird's Eye View
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 14 May 2005; (p. 5)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
In Short : Fiction
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14-15 May 2005; (p. 26)
— Review of The Never Boys 2005 single work novel ; Hope Bay 2005 single work novel ; The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Florid Rhetoric
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 272 2005; (p. 47)
— Review of The Essential Bird 2005 selected work short story essay biography prose -
Darkness Descending
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 9 April 2005; (p. 3)