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y separately published work icon Parrot and Olivier in America single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Parrot and Olivier in America
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Olivier is a young aristocrat, one of an endangered species born in France just after the Revolution. Parrot, the son of an itinerant English printer, wanted to be an artist but has ended up in middle age as a servant.

When Olivier sets sail for the New World - ostensibly to study its prisons, but in reality to avoid yet another revolution - Parrot is sent with him, as spy, protector, foe and foil. Through their adventures with women and money, incarceration and democracy, writing and painting, they make an unlikely pair. But where better for unlikely things to flourish than in the glorious, brand-new experiment, America?

A dazzlingly inventive reimagining of Alexis de Tocqueville's famous journey, Parrot and Olivier in America brilliantly evokes the Old World colliding with the New. Above all, it is a wildly funny, tender portrait of two men who come to form an almost impossible friendship, and a completely improbable work of art.' (From the publisher's website.)

Notes

  • Dedication: For Frances Coady.
  • Epigraph: 'Can it be believed that the democracy which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists?' 'It is not good to announce every truth.' ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Hamish Hamilton , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 3168844671484987427.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 452p.
      ISBN: 9781926428147 (hbk.)
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Hamish Hamilton , 2010 .
      image of person or book cover 1552527603968763996.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 451p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 14 April 2010.
      ISBN: 9781926428246 (pbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Faber ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 9084660206616553129.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 451p.
      ISBN: 9780571253296
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Knopf ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 2956486128651140800.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 451p.
      Edition info: 1st U.S. ed.
      ISBN: 9780307592620 (alk. paper)
    • Toronto, Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Random House Canada ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 2213896134039676185.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 379p.
      ISBN: 9780307358349
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Vintage ,
      2011 .
      image of person or book cover 5508545403343523483.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 381p.
      ISBN: 9780307476012 (pbk.)
      Series: y separately published work icon Vintage International New York (City) : Vintage , 1993- 19532994 1993 series - publisher novel

      'William Faulkner, Philip Roth, Alice Munro, Thomas Mann, Doris Lessing, Albert Camus, V.S. Naipaul, Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie, Joan Didion, and Cormac McCarthy, among many others: Vintage International is devoted to publishing the best writing of the past century from the world over. Offering both classic and modern fiction and literary nonfiction in elegant editions, Vintage International aims to provide readers with world-class writing that has stood the test of time and essential works by the preeminent authors of today.'

      Source: Vintage.

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2020 .
      image of person or book cover 5950624897681237933.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 464p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 3 March 2020
      ISBN: 9781760896485
Alternative title: Parrot und Olivier in Amerika : Roman
Language: German
    • Frankfurt am Main,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      S. Fischer Verlag ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 554933995778511480.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 559p.
      ISBN: 9783100102348

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

True History of a Rogue : Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey Luigi Gussago , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 77 no. 1 2017; (p. 199-219)

As a silent rule, historians do not mess with creative writers, but it a fact that works like Umberto Eco's best selling The Name of the Rose (1980) appeal to the essence and scope of narrating the past. Likewise, a host of modern and postmodern authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jose Saramago, Doris Lessing or Patrick White have opened new frontiers in historical fiction, submerging fact with invention, often disproving official historical evidence. The advent of anti-idealism in many fields of the humanities has also downsized history from indisputable, factual eyewitness to an elaborate, time-constrained, and often reticent account. Reliability and faithfulness have ceased to be the purpose of historical fiction and, to be true, what is at stake is not only the process of fictionalising history, but also the transmission of historical events as a distinct kind of narrative.' (Introduction)

On the Genealogy of Democracy : Reading Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Mathews , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 27 no. 2 2012; (p. 68-80)
A Nine-Course Rendering of the New American Democracy A. Digger Stolz , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 25 no. 1 2011; (p. 100-101)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel
Australia más cerca Nicholas Birns , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: El país , 7 May 2011;
La literatura de un país hecho con partes de todo el mundo protagoniza un fenómeno global y multilateral. Escritores de prestigio cuyas obras han alcanzado un registro intelectual posmoderno. España empieza a conocer más este nuevo territorio literario. [Spain gets to know a little better the new terrain of Australian literature, which is both postmodern and transnational. - Translation]
Excavating for the Idea : For Booker Prize-Winning Peter Carey, a New Novel Begins with a Lot of Notes and What Ifs, As Well as Reading and 'Threads of Logic' Gabriel Packard (interviewer), 2010 single work interview
— Appears in: The Writer , March vol. 123 no. 3 2010; (p. 18-20)
[Review] Parrot and Olivier in America Blair Mahoney , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 89 no. 3 2009; (p. 28)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel
Well Read Katharine England , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 24 October 2009; (p. 24)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel ; Wonders of a Godless World Andrew McGahan , 2009 single work novel
American Sprawl Mark Thomas , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 October 2009; (p. 11)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel
Books Ian Nichols , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 31 October 2009; (p. 26)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel ; The First Boxer Christopher Ride , 2009 single work novel ; The Last Stormlord Glenda Larke , 2009 single work novel
The Oddest of Carey Couples Jennifer Byrne , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 31 October 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey , 2009 single work novel
Temple Hero Set for Small Screen Jason Steger , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 2 May 2009; (p. 28)
A column canvassing current literary news including reports on a planned adaptation of Peter Temple's Jack Irish novels and news of the forthcoming publication by Penguin imprint Hamish Hamilton of Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America. Jason Steger also provides an update on developments in the parallel importation debate.
Undercover Susan Wyndham , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 May 2009; (p. 26)

A column canvassing current literary news including a report on Penguin's forthcoming publication of Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America.

Wyndham also reports on Philip McLaren's grievances with the Byron Bay Writers' Festival. McLaren asserts (inaccurately according to festival organisers) that the writers' festival has been practicing 'racism by omission' in not inviting Indigenous writers to participate. Wyndham notes the organisers' counter-claims, including a list of Aboriginal writers invited to attend in recent years.

Page Turners Gillian Dooley , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , January no. 359 2010; (p. 27)
Off the Top Shelf Catherine Cole , Mark Rubbo , Michael Shmith , Clare Wright , Gig Ryan , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 31 July 2010; (p. 24-25)
The judges for the 2010 Age Book of the Year Awards provide a summary for the category for which they are responsible and comments on each shortlisted title.
Aussies Make Booker Long-List 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury , 29 July 2010; (p. 10)
Last amended 5 Jul 2021 15:08:24
Settings:
  • c
    United States of America (USA),
    c
    Americas,
  • c
    France,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • 1700-1799
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