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image of person or book cover 678838282874555431.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon A Woman of the Future single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1979... 1979 A Woman of the Future
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A Woman of the Future, first published in 1979, was David Ireland’s best-selling sixth novel and his third to win the Miles Franklin Award.

'An imaginative tour de force, it is the story of the young life of Anthea Hunt—from conception to sexual awakening. It is controversial and brilliant, and unlike anything else in Australian literature.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1979 .
      Extent: 351p.
      Reprinted: 1980 , 1981
      ISBN: 0140056572 (pbk.)
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Allen Lane ,
      1979 .
      Alternative title: A Woman of the Future : A Novel
      Extent: 351p.
      Reprinted: 1980
      ISBN: 0713913231
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2012 .
      image of person or book cover 678838282874555431.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 480p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 21/11/2012
      • Introduction by Kate Jennings
      Series: y separately published work icon Text Classics Text Publishing (publisher), Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2012- Z1851461 2012 series - publisher novel 'Great books by great Australian storytellers.' (Text website.)

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

My Father Didn’t Write That : I Did: on A Woman of the Future Bonny Cassidy , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2018;

'Surfing for new commentary on novelist David Ireland, I come across a blog post by Bill Holloway, truck driver and literary scholar, about Ireland’s 1979 novel, A Woman of the Future:

'I re-read this novel to see how it intersected with my idea of the Independent Woman, but from the perspective of the 2000s, the woman of David Ireland’s future turns out to be not so independent after all, or at least not in any way Miles Franklin or even Kylie Tennant would have understood, but just a compilation of all the author’s wet dreams.' (Introduction)

What I’m Reading Bonny Cassidy , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2016;
Inheritors of the Dead Heart : Magical realism in 'These People' and 'Falling Petals' by Ben Ellis. Ricci-Jane Adams , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April no. 48 2006; (p. 189-202)
y separately published work icon Studies of Indeterminacy in the Australian Novel Maria Panarello , Rome : Bulzoni , 1999 Z792101 1999 single work criticism

Contains studies of three Australian novelists:

  • "A web of possibilities : Such is life by Joseph Furphy", pp.15-69 and Appendices 209-12.
  • "Parables of innocence and experience : three novels by Christina Stead", pp.71-141 and Appendices 213-18.
  • "De-negotiating the business of living : A woman of the future by David Ireland", pp.143-208 and Appendices 219-20. Also contains a preface, pp.9-13 and a bibliography, pp.221-237.
[Review] A Woman of the Future Culture Vulture , 1998 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 18-19 July 1998; (p. 39)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel
Recent Fiction : Futurism and Other Projections Peter Pierce , 1980 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 39 no. 2 1980; (p. 260-269)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel ; Long Live Sandawara : A Novel Colin Johnson , 1979 single work novel ; Confederates Thomas Keneally , 1979 single work novel ; Hemlock R. A. Nicholls , 1979 single work novel ; The Twyborn Affair Patrick White , 1979 single work novel
Borderline Ken Gelder , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 136 1991; (p. 8-9)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel ; City of Women : A Novel David Ireland , 1981 single work novel
[Review] A Woman of the Future M. Clark , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10 November 1979; (p. 18)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel
[Review] A Woman of the Future Rosemary Creswell , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 16 1979; (p. 4-5)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel
[Review] A Woman of the Future Maurice Dunlevy , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 December 1979; (p. 12)

— Review of A Woman of the Future David Ireland , 1979 single work novel
y separately published work icon Treacherous Sands : Limit and Transgression in David Ireland's A Woman of the Future Tim Richards , 1985 Z1053300 1985 single work thesis
y separately published work icon The Construction of Femininity and Female Sexuality in Contemporary Australian Fiction : A Reading of Four Novels Colleen Keane , 1990 Z1053323 1990 single work thesis
Inheritors of the Dead Heart : Magical realism in 'These People' and 'Falling Petals' by Ben Ellis. Ricci-Jane Adams , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April no. 48 2006; (p. 189-202)
Belinda Giese, an Interview with David Ireland : 26 August 1985 Belinda Giese (interviewer), 1988 single work interview
— Appears in: Notes & Furphies , April no. 20 1988; (p. 15)
Butterflies Flew Free : David Ireland's Australia Colin John Partridge , 1984 single work criticism
— Appears in: True North/Down Under , no. 2 1984; (p. 75-86)
Last amended 17 Jun 2014 10:45:14
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