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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Set in the boardrooms, yachts and waterfront mansions of Australia's most decadent city, The Butcherbird is a boisterous thriller about corruption and excess in the corporate world.
'Jack Beaumont, architect turned property developer, is as surprised as the next person when he is approached by insurance tycoon Mac Biddulph to become the new CEO of HOA, the largest home-insurer in Australia. Seduced at first by the lure of power, Jack soon finds that beneath the glamorous facade of the Sydney business elite lies a convoluted network of corruption. Out of his depth and pursued by piranhas in a fish tank full of money, Jack must unravel the elusive threads or become ensnared himself.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: To Darlene
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Anecdote and Anthropomorphism : Writing the Australian Pied Butcherbird
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology , Summer vol. 1 no. 2011; This paper surveys textual references to the Australian pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis). We begin with my initial encounter with this songbird (in re-worked excerpts from the book Post Impressions), and then expand our review to aboriginal stories, historic ornithological reports and field guides, informal stories, archival Australian periodicals, children’s literature, literary references, and composers’ texts. Many of these reveal the tension between the superlative pied butcherbird vocal abilities and their ferocious hunting prowess. The paper shuns neither anecdote nor anthropomorphism as it attempts a new mode of interspecies narrative. I argue that anecdotes can contribute to an understanding of this understudied songbird. In inventorying pied butcherbird textual references, we find that our stories about them are ultimately stories about us as well—anthropomorphism seems to be an innate human proclivity. Reflecting on the lives of animals is of psychological, intellectual, and metaphysical significance for humans. -
Business of the Criminal Mind
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 18 August 2007; (p. 25)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
More Than a Grain of Truth
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 July 2007; (p. 39)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
Insurance No Guarantee of a Happy Ending
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 July 2007; (p. 10-11)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
Flawed Plot Ruins the Bottom Line
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 30 June - 1 July 2007; (p. 27)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel
-
Flawed Plot Ruins the Bottom Line
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 30 June - 1 July 2007; (p. 27)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
Insurance No Guarantee of a Happy Ending
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 July 2007; (p. 10-11)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
More Than a Grain of Truth
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 July 2007; (p. 39)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
Business of the Criminal Mind
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 18 August 2007; (p. 25)
— Review of The Butcherbird 2007 single work novel -
Anecdote and Anthropomorphism : Writing the Australian Pied Butcherbird
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology , Summer vol. 1 no. 2011; This paper surveys textual references to the Australian pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis). We begin with my initial encounter with this songbird (in re-worked excerpts from the book Post Impressions), and then expand our review to aboriginal stories, historic ornithological reports and field guides, informal stories, archival Australian periodicals, children’s literature, literary references, and composers’ texts. Many of these reveal the tension between the superlative pied butcherbird vocal abilities and their ferocious hunting prowess. The paper shuns neither anecdote nor anthropomorphism as it attempts a new mode of interspecies narrative. I argue that anecdotes can contribute to an understanding of this understudied songbird. In inventorying pied butcherbird textual references, we find that our stories about them are ultimately stories about us as well—anthropomorphism seems to be an innate human proclivity. Reflecting on the lives of animals is of psychological, intellectual, and metaphysical significance for humans.
Awards
Last amended 28 May 2008 16:40:08
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