Peter Carey Criticism
Peter Carey is an acclaimed Australian novelist and short story writer whose inventive narratives often blend the fantastic with the ordinary, infusing meticulously detailed, realistic scenes with surreal elements. His work is celebrated for its satirical edge and exploration of postcolonial themes, examining nationhood and cultural identity, as noted in Postcolonial/Postmodern: Australian Literature and Peter Carey. Carey's major works include Oscar and Lucinda, Illywhacker, and True History of the Kelly Gang, the latter of which earned him his second Booker Prize in 2001, a distinction he shares with only a few other authors.
Carey's narrative style is distinctly postmodern, employing non-linear techniques and symbolic elements to disrupt traditional storytelling. This approach draws comparisons to authors like Franz Kafka, offering rich allegories and symbolism. His works frequently interrogate the intersection of personal and political realms, as exemplified in The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith and Jack Maggs—the latter providing an Australian perspective on Dickens's Great Expectations and reflecting on national identity and postcolonial themes, as discussed in A Tale of Two Countries: Jack Maggs and Peter Carey's Fiction.
Despite relocating to the United States, Carey's engagement with Australian history and identity remains a cornerstone of his writing. This is particularly evident in True History of the Kelly Gang, where he reconstructs the life of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly, portraying him as a folk hero resisting British colonial oppression. The novel is praised for its inventive historical narrative that blends fact and fiction to explore national myths, as noted in Heroic Underdog Down Under. Carey's ability to intertwine myth with reality while critiquing historical narratives underscores his position as a leading figure in postcolonial literature.
Carey's works, such as those in The Fat Man in History and novels like Bliss and Illywhacker, examine the relationship between fiction and truth, the absurdities of everyday life, and the construction of meaning in human lives. As highlighted by Graeme Turner, Carey's "fantastic, alternative worlds" offer "alternative perspectives on an historical world," challenging readers' preconceptions of narrative and reality. Carey's novel Bliss uses black humor to critique societal values, while Illywhacker tackles themes of colonization and deception.
Oscar and Lucinda reimagines Australian history through the peculiar romance of its protagonists, while works like The Tax Inspector and The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith explore cultural identity and colonial exploitation. Carey's prose, as noted by Robert Towers, uniquely balances "the ugly, the frightening, and the beautiful," making him a compelling literary figure whose exploration of entrapment and colonialism draws comparisons to Franz Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Carey, Peter (Vol. 183)
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Review of Oscar and Lucinda
(summary)
In the following review, Richey examines the symbolic elements in Oscar and Lucinda, praising Carey's characterizations of the dual protagonists.
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Landscape with Peasants
(summary)
In the following review, Linklater applauds Carey's descriptive abilities in The Tax Inspector, though notes that the title character is the novel's weakest.
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Toxic Waste
(summary)
In the following review, Radin laments that Carey's dark tone in The Tax Inspector is overly gruesome, arguing that Carey is at his best in his lighter, earlier works.
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PW Interviews: Peter Carey
(summary)
In the following interview, Carey and Baker explore the challenges Carey faced in writing The Tax Inspector, highlighting its thematic influences, the varied critical responses from Australia and the United States, and Carey's evolving emotional depth in his literary works.
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Postcolonial/Postmodern: Australian Literature and Peter Carey
(summary)
In the following essay, Kane investigates the duality of Carey's body of work and asserts that Carey's novels not only incorporate postcolonial themes but also follow postmodern styles and ideals.
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Review of Collected Stories
(summary)
In the following review, Bliss lauds the selection of short stories in Carey's Collected Stories, particularly complimenting Carey's ability to leave “himself emotionally naked when writing of his own experience.”
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Review of The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
(summary)
In the following review, Coad notes the postmodern style of The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith and comments on Carey's decision to live in the United States as an expatriate writer.
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Great Expectations Disappointed
(summary)
In the following review, Hensher appreciates the control Carey employs while writing the characters in Jack Maggs but argues that Carey's abrupt prose style clashes with the subtlety of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, the novel on which Jack Maggs is loosely based.
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The Unexamined Life
(summary)
In the following interview, Carey discusses his novel Jack Maggs, exploring themes such as the re-imagination of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations from the perspective of the character Magwitch, the influence of Australia's convict history, and the broader creative and empathetic responsibilities of a writer.
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A Tale of Two Countries: Jack Maggs and Peter Carey's Fiction
(summary)
In the following essay, Hassall examines the differences between Jack Maggs's characterization in Jack Maggs with the character of Magwitch in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.
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Pooka
(summary)
In the following review, Kermode praises Carey's tightly controlled plot and imaginative ideas in Jack Maggs.
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Bleak House
(summary)
In the following review, Eder describes Jack Maggs as a brilliantly written novel, likening Carey's text to a work Charles Dickens might have written if he were not constrained by the social mores of the nineteenth-century.
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A Novel as Rich as London
(summary)
In the following review, Allen provides a favorable assessment of Jack Maggs and offers insights to the novel's underlying message.
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Late Expectations
(summary)
In the following review, Miller contends that Carey's purpose for writing Jack Maggs is to refute the stereotypical portrayal of Australia as a land of criminals and brutes.
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Expectations Lost and Found
(summary)
In the following essay, Ross offers a laudatory review of Jack Maggs and analyzes the novel along with Carey's other works in terms of the political, social, and cultural issues Australia faces as a postcolonial nation.
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‘Years Later’: Temporality and Closure in Peter Carey's Novels
(summary)
In the following essay, Larsson argues that, despite his label as a postmodern writer, Carey frequently invokes the use of prolepses and foreshadowing in his novels, giving the reader a discernible end to his stories and providing a sense of closure not typically experienced in the postmodern genre.
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A Ventriloquist's Tale
(summary)
In the following review, Taylor comments that although Carey's conjectures regarding Ned Kelly's thoughts and actions in True History of the Kelly Gang are enjoyable, they ultimately render the story as a work of historical fiction rather than biography.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in One Man
(summary)
In the following review, Charles offers a positive assessment of True History of the Kelly Gang, asserting that Carey's ability to give believable voices to historical figures identifies him as a “genius … of literary ventriloquism.”
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Full Tilt
(summary)
In the following review, Jones provides a detailed plot summary of True History of the Kelly Gang and examines Carey's narrative style in the novel.
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Dialogue with a Desperado
(summary)
In the following interview, Carey and Bemrose explore Peter Carey's deep connection to Australian history and culture through his novel "True History of the Kelly Gang," emphasizing Carey's portrayal of Ned Kelly as a symbol of Australian identity, class struggle, and the enduring influence of folklore and landscape on his writing.
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Heroic Underdog Down Under
(summary)
In the following review of True History of the Kelly Gang, Ross explores the Australian glorification of the outlaw Ned Kelly, viewing Kelly's adulation as a statement against the imperial power of British colonialism.
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A Month in the City
(summary)
In the following review, Porter finds 30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account to be superficial and elitist, commenting that Carey focuses only on the trendier and more upscale areas of the city.
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The True History of the Kelly Gang at Last!
(summary)
In the following review, Gaile argues that, although Ned Kelly is a real figure in Australian history, Carey's personal storytelling and political agendas in True History of the Kelly Gang are glaringly obvious.
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30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account
(summary)
In the following review, Maliszewski praises the “detail and insight” of Carey's travel writing in 30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account. He highlights Carey's ability to engage with rich historical detail and lively analysis, despite the subjective nature of travel writing.
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Reading the ‘Remembered World’: Carceral Architecture and Cultural Mnemonics in Peter Carey's Illywhacker
(summary)
In the following essay, Lobe examines the postcolonial nature of Australian architecture and cultural memory as portrayed in Illywhacker.
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Review of My Life as a Fake
(summary)
In the following review, the critic offers a positive assessment of My Life as a Fake, calling the novel a “Nabokovian masterpiece.”
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Poetic License
(summary)
In the following review, Barnacle asserts that, despite the novel's unique style, My Life as a Fake is ultimately unsatisfying and overly ambiguous.
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Spooked by a Spoof
(summary)
In the following review, Porter praises Carey's “inventive” narrative in My Life as a Fake, though notes he is concerned that Carey “is drawn increasingly to archetypal Australian legends.”
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Review of Oscar and Lucinda
(summary)
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Carey, Peter (Vol. 96)
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An Infinite Onion: Narrative Structure in Peter Carey's Fiction
(summary)
In the following essay, Dovey remarks on the mythic qualities of Carey's fiction, focusing her analysis on Bliss.
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American Dreaming: The Fictions of Peter Carey
(summary)
In the following essay, an earlier draft of which was presented at the conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature in July 1986, Turner outlines the major characteristics of Carey's fiction and discusses Carey's use of 'American' formal devices to create literature with Australian themes.
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More Tramps at Home: Seeing Australia First
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Thwaites argues that Illywhacker is a self-referential text in the tradition of Samuel Beckett's novels.
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Lies for Sale: Peter Carey
(summary)
Daniel is an Australian critic. In the following excerpt, she provides an overview of Carey's works through Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker opens with the Liar's paradox: 'I am a terrible liar and I have always been a liar.' Herbert announces this early 'to set things straight'. He urges us not to waste time trying to 'pull apart the strands of lies and truth, but to relax and enjoy the show'. He is a liar and a showman, and he is also a salesman. He gives fair warning to the buyer, but he is a good salesman, his goods are glossy, and the caveat becomes a forgotten small-print clause. Herbert is a used-car salesman and, with his 'salesman's sense of history', he is also selling us used-history, second-hand history. So who is the previous owner of this history Herbert Badgery is selling? What kind of deal have they got going between them? Badgery is the go-between in the business of the Lie, the showman in the showroom, the previous owner, Peter Carey. As Herbert sells us second-hand history, Carey is outside the showroom, Carey-Escher watching Herbert Badgery's hands drawing each other. The Liar is Carey, the reader is the buyer, and the real business deal is the Lie of fiction. Caveat emptor.
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Telling Lies and Stories: Peter Carey's Bliss
(summary)
Hassall provides a thematic analysis of Bliss, examining the story of Little Titch that Harry Joy invents and its significance within the larger narrative of Harry Joy's mid-life crisis and eventual attainment of 'bliss.' The essay discusses the postmodern elements of the novel and the complexities of understanding reality through fiction.
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Is the (Günter) Grass Greener on the Other Side? Oskar and Lucinde in the New World
(summary)
In the following essay, Huggan compares Carey's Oscar and Lucinda to Günter Grass's The Tin Drum, arguing that Carey's novel is an allegorical critique of colonialism.
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'It Cannot <i>Not</i> Be There': Borges and Australia's Peter Carey
(summary)
In the following essay, Ross focuses on Carey's short stories as he speculates on the influence of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges's works on Carey's artistic development.
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Recognizing Jack
(summary)
White favorably reviews The Tax Inspector, noting Peter Carey's approach to the novel, his well-motivated characters, straightforward language, chronological plots, and strong sense of place.
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Titans of the Junkyard
(summary)
In the review below, he remarks on the characters in The Tax Inspector, focusing on three generations of Catchprices who run a failing General Motors dealership in the slummy outskirts of Sydney, Australia.
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House of Cards
(summary)
In the following review, he surveys Carey's previous novels and remarks favorably on The Tax Inspector, praising the novel's arresting prose and elaborate yet coherent structure.
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Principia Efica
(summary)
In the following review, he discusses The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, praising the novel as a successful investigation of cultural imperialism and national character.
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An E-Ticket Ride
(summary)
In the review below, Eder comments favorably on The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, but finds the second half of the novel less compelling than the first.
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Voorstand, Go Home!
(summary)
In the review below, she remarks favorably on The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, describing it as Peter Carey's most ambitious novel to date, filled with extravagant sorrows and conflicting loyalties.
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Out of Efica
(summary)
In the following review, which also includes comments from an interview with Carey, Woodward discusses themes in and the inspiration for The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith.
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Parallel Universes
(summary)
In the review below, Heyward examines themes of cultural and national identity in The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith.
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An Infinite Onion: Narrative Structure in Peter Carey's Fiction
(summary)
- Further Reading