Illywhacker (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Carey
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Picaresque yarn
- Time of Work: From 1886 to the mid-1980’s
- Setting: Victoria and New South Wales, Australia
- Principal Characters: Herbert Badgery, Leah Goldstein, Phoebe McGrath, Charles Badgery
- Genres: Long fiction, Picaresque fiction
- Subjects: Memory, Snakes, Politics, Suicide, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Storytelling, Adventure, Comedy, Begging or beggars, Australia or Australians
- Locales: Australia, New South Wales, Australia, Victoria, Australia
The Novel
Herbert Badgery, the narrator of Illywhacker and the patriarch of its three generations of Badgerys, claims at the outset of the novel that he is 139 years old. He also boasts that he is an inveterate liar. Illywhacker is the memoirs of this aged, but not too aged, mendicant. He describes a life of wandering about southeastern Australia, from adventure to adventure, from fib to fib.
The rambling style of his six hundred pages of reminiscence, tall tale after tall tale grafted onto other tall tales, matches the style of his life. His story begins...
[The entire page is 1883 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
