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'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)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Last amended 2 Mar 2012 14:09:03
Subjects:
- Prelude to Christopher 1934 single work novel
- Eleanor Dark : A Writer's Life 1998 single work biography
- Eleanor Dark 1976 single work criticism biography
- A Gregarious Culture : Topical Writings of Miles Franklin 2001 selected work column correspondence prose review criticism autobiography interview
- Time and Memory in the Novels of Eleanor Dark 2009 single work thesis
- A Reader's Guide to Australian Fiction 1992 single work criticism biography
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