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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Jews have been in Australia since the First Fleet. They have come from many lands; some in relative comfort, others in utter destitution. Their stories of survival, arrival, adaptation and participation constitute one of multicultural Australia's great ethnic narratives. Australian Jews have written about three hundred book-length autobiographies. Richard Freadman's remarkable This Crazy Thing a Life: Australian Jewish Autobiography is the first ever comprehensive study of this large, varied and fascinating body of work.
The autobiographies range from humble self-published monographs to acclaimed narratives by professional writers like Lily Brett, Jacob Rosenberg and Arnold Zable. Freadman offers superbly nuanced readings of major works. He also surveys the field as a whole, tracing demographic trends, recurrent themes, the impact of the Holocaust, and issues of gender, genre, testimony, truth-telling and literary value. There are accessible discussions of humanist and postmodern approaches to Holocaust memoir, migrant narrative and ethnic minority writing, together with background information about Judaism and the Australian Jewish diaspora. The final section of the book is an anthology of short excerpts featuring both renowned and lesser-known writers.
Written for a general audience, this rich and impassioned book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Australian Jewish lives, and of Australian lives more generally.' -- Cover blurb.
Notes
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Dedication: To the Australian Jewish community.
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Epigraph: Every story has a life of its own, and every life has its own story. - Jacob G. Rosenberg, Lives and Embers
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Epigraph: To understand the extent of the human tragedy of the deportation of the Warsaw Jews during July and August 1942 to Treblinka, one would have to frame the drama in single images and study the details; the faces of the victims. One would need the story behind each picture. For only in the individual stories could one begin to grasp the depth of the tragedy. - David J. Landau, Caged
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review] This Crazy Thing a Life
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 25 no. 3 2010; (p. 74-77)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Untitled
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Life Writing , April vol. 7 no. 1 2010; (p. 107-111)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Untitled
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Partial Answers : Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas , vol. 7 no. 2 2009; (p. 343-349)
— Review of The Self in Moral Space : Life Narrative and the Good 2007 selected work criticism ; This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Untitled
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , March vol. 40 no. 1 2009; (p. 126-127)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
The Experience of Experience
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 45 2008; (p. 133-135)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism
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Landmark Study of Australian Jewish Writing
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 19 October vol. 74 no. 6 2007; (p. 11)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Non-Fiction
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 24 November 2007; (p. 24)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Witnessing
2007-2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 297 2007-2008; (p. 57-58)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism -
Non-Fiction 2007-2008
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 53 no. 2008; (p. 76-92)
— Review of The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer 1993 single work biography ; This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism ; John Winston Howard 2007 single work biography ; Mudrooroo : A Likely Story : Identity and Belonging in Postcolonial Australia 2007 single work criticism ; A Matter of Conscience : Sir Ronald Wilson 2007 single work biography ; Contrary Rhetoric : Lectures on Landscape and Language 2008 selected work criticism essay ; Australian Literature : Postcolonialism, Racism, Transnationalism 2007 single work criticism ; Power Plays : Australian Theatre and the Public Agenda 2007 single work criticism ; Heartsick for Country : Stories of Love, Spirit and Creation 2008 anthology life story ; Conversations With The Mob 2008 anthology life story ; Make It Australian: The Australian Performing Group, the Pram Factory and New Wave Theatre 2008 single work criticism ; Stressing the Modern : Cultural Politics in Australian Women's Poetry 2007 selected work criticism -
The Experience of Experience
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 45 2008; (p. 133-135)
— Review of This Crazy Thing a Life : Australian Jewish Autobiography 2007 selected work criticism
Awards
- 2009 shortlisted ASAL Awards — Walter McRae Russell Award
- 2008 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Literary Scholarship