'Interwar Australia has often been seen as geographically and culturally distant from the centres of modernity, with 1930s Australian literary culture viewed through the tropes of isolation, insularity and quarantine. Through a reading of Eleanor Dark's experimental novel Prelude to Christopher (1934), I contest this idea, arguing that interwar Australia contained its own latent modernisms and modernities, which were often hidden alongside anti-modernist positions and inside other discourses such as cultural nationalism. This essay contributes to recent reinvestigations of the cosmopolitanism/nationalism binary and calls for these categories to be rethought in more interconnected terms. It also examines Dark's modernist and gendered critique of eugenics in light of the larger project of settler colonialism.' (Publication abstract)
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Should a woman bear a child knowing that there are traces of insanity in her family? Linda Hainlin, niece of a famous biologist, was aware of the danger when she married Dr. Nigel Hendon, a practical idealist, whose creed was normality and the rational ordering of the world. This book tells how, years later, while temporarily deprived of her husband's sane companionship, Linda feels the oncoming of those homicidal impulses which presage madness. On this tragic theme, 'Prelude to Christopher' is written with strong literary art as a narrative of four days of crisis. The story goes back in memory to the happiness of Linda's love for Nigel, and forward in her frightened imagination to a future from which the strongest must flinch. Christopher, the unborn child, dominates terrific events in which he has no living part to play. The prelude to his birth is told with emotional power.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Contents
- Rereading Prelude to Christopher, single work criticism biography (p. 185-189)
- Varuna Writers' Centre : The Legacy of Eleanor Dark, single work column (p. 190)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
‘A Masterpiece of Camouflage’ : Modernism and Interwar Australia
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Modernist Cultures , August vol. 15 no. 3 2020; (p. 316-340) -
Armed with Fruit-Knives : Transgression in Australian Women's Modernist Still-Lifes
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Magnificent Obsessions : Honouring the Lives of Hazel Rowley 2013; (p. 202-218) -
The Difficult Business of Writing : The Story of Return to Coolami's Publication
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 27 no. 2 2013; (p. 157-160) 'In Eleanor Dark's archive, there seems to be an infinite number of royalty statements, contracts, and letters between her, Curtis Brown, and American and British publishers. In her article discussing the ill-fated publishing history of Prelude to Christopher, Drusilla Modjeska does an excellent job of untangling a story from such documents, Prelude. Here, Gildfind discusses Coolami's publication story.' (Publication abstract) -
Education, Literature and the Emotions : A Salute to Eleanor Dark’s Prelude to Christopher
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'The current neoliberal climate has seen important changes to what is being taught to Humanities students in the Higher Education sector. With the emphasis increasingly on courses that make money and prepare students for vocations what is being lost is the kinds of reading practices and reading experiences that make for thoughtful caring citizens.
Both the writer Margaret Atwood in her novel Oryx and Crake and the philosopher Martha Nussbaum in her Not For Profit: Why Democracy needs the Humanities have reflected on the ways in which the study of literature and the arts contribute to the notion of a caring society and thoughtful global citizens. Nussbaum in particular has emphasised the importance of reading and teaching literature that values the finer emotions- those that cultivate justice, compassion, and empathy, seeing in these the pathway to what she calls human flourishing. I argue that of Australian literary texts that aim for something similar, a stand out example is Eleanor Dark's Prelude to Christopher. Although written more than eighty years ago during a different phase of capitalism, the novel's passionate critique of eugenics renders it surprisingly relevant to today's educational situation.' (Author's abstract)
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Biopolitics and Eleanor Dark's Prelude to Christopher
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , June vol. 26 no. 2 2011; (p. 76-90) 'In 1934 Miles Franklin described Eleanor Dark's second novel, Prelude to Christopher, as 'a terribly beautiful piece of work' (128). One of Dark's earliest critics, Franklin attributed the book's strength to the author's deft handling of a tragic theme and 'the urge to speak the naked truth' (125). Later critics emphasised the book's experimental style, especially its skilled handling o the multiple viewpoints, flashbacks and interior monologues associated with high modernism. By contrast, recent critics have focused on the novel's subject matter and Dark's engagement with the biopolitical norms that manifested in eugenics. This essay pursues that focus. It aims to flesh out the ways in which Dark's novel registers the potential impact of eugenics on liberal conceptions of freedom and to explore some of the ways in which it attempts to reclaim that freedom...(' From author's introduction p. 76)
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A Reader's Notebook
1934
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 June vol. 6 no. 6 1934; (p. 115-116)
— Review of Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel ; Blue North : Being a Narrative Concerning Incidents and Adventures Which Befell John Fordyce When He Went in Search of Freedom and Pearls in the Year 1876 1934 single work novel ; The World Is Yours 1933 single work novel ; Three Goats on a Bender 1934 single work novel ; The Fighting Cameliers 1934 single work autobiography ; Blood in the Mists 1934 single work autobiography ; Marriage at 6 a.m. 1934 single work prose ; Special Correspondent 1934 single work autobiography -
New Australian Work
1935
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 November vol. 7 no. 11 1935; (p. 180-182)
— Review of Human Drift 1935 single work novel ; Anything Doing? 1935 single work novel ; Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel ; Black Valleys 1935 single work novel ; The Brierley Rose 1935 single work novel ; A Drover's Odyssey 1935 single work autobiography -
Untitled
1935
single work
review
— Appears in: The North Queensland Register , 18 May 1935; (p. 37)
— Review of Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel -
Untitled
1934
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 July no. 274 1934; (p. 20)
— Review of Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel -
Books Received
1934
single work
review
— Appears in: The Central Queensland Herald , 17 May 1934; (p. 13)
— Review of Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel -
Best Sellers and A.B.A. Recommendations
1934
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 July vol. 6 no. 7 1934; (p. 140) -
Australian Literature Society [Meeting Report]
1935
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 14 November vol. 7 no. 11 1935; (p. 190-191) -
Some Australian Books
1935
single work
criticism
— Appears in: All About Books , 3 December vol. 7 no. 12 1935; (p. 220-221) An annotated list of Australian works from 1934/5, "a prolific [year] for publishing in Australia". -
Fellowship of Australian Writers, Sydney [Meeting Report]
1936
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 1 December vol. 8 no. 12 1936; (p. 188, 215) Report of the 18 November meeting to which Rees and Franklin contributed. Includes Rees' account of his conversation with Richardson in England. -
Linda's Linoleum : Visual Imaging in Eleanor Dark's 'Prelude to Christopher'.
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 68 no. 1 2008; (p. 95-103)
Awards
- 1934 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal