Vendor: 色界吧
Type: Paperback / softback
Price: 45.00

Serialised in 1909鈥�10, The Poison of Polygamy is a rare gem of Australian literature.

The first novel of the Chinese Australian experience, it is a roller-coaster tale of blackmail, murder, betrayal and even thylacine attack, partly based on real people, places and events. Revealing the human face of migration between imperial China and colonial Australia, it recounts the story of a man from southern China who tries his luck on the Victorian goldfields, the wife he leaves behind, and their eventual fraught reunion.

In this bilingual parallel edition, Australia鈥檚 and possibly the West鈥檚 earliest Chinese-language novel is presented in English translation for the first time. Illuminating introductions explore the work鈥檚 historical, cultural and linguistic context, and establish its unique significance in Australia鈥檚 literary and social history.

鈥淎 shiny little nugget has been disinterred from the tailings of our literary past 鈥� The Poison of Polygamy is an exciting addition to our literary history that deserves to be widely discussed and analysed in both China and Australia.鈥� David Walker, Emeritus Professor, Deakin University and author of Anxious Nation

鈥淭he discovery of The Poison of Polygamy and its publication in this highly informative bilingual edition is a double happiness. It gives readers a highly entertaining new novel, replete with drama, emotion and intrigue. At the same time it documents Chinese Australian life in a key period of history.鈥� Nicholas Jose, author of Avenue of Eternal Peace

Vendor: 色界吧
Type: Paperback / softback
Price: 45.00

Biography of a Book traces the life of an iconic Australian literary work in the lead-up to, and for a century after, its initial publication: Henry Lawson's 1896 collection While the Billy Boils. Paul Eggert follows Lawson's gradual development of a pared-back bush realism in the early 1890s, as he struggled to forge a career, writing short stories and sketches for the newspapers.

Lawson's famous collection came out at a decisive moment for the development of a fully professional Australian literary publishing industry, then in its infancy in Sydney. The volume's editing, design and production were collaborative events that changed the feel and nature of Lawson's writing. He had to give ground on his texts and their sequencing.

The collection went on to be reprinted and repackaged countless times. Its production and reception histories act like a geological cross-section, revealing the contours of successive cultural formations in Australia. In unravelling the life of Lawson's classic work, Eggert's book-historical approach challenges and clarifies established understandings of crucial moments in Australian literary history and of Lawson himself.

Vendor: 色界吧
Type: Paperback / softback
Price: 25.00

Count Your Dead is the first novel written about the Vietnam War by a professional soldier. A fictional story with drama, violence, strong characters and poignant moments, Count Your Dead is closely based on real events and John Rowe鈥檚 personal experiences and observations of real people.

When Count Your Dead was first published in 1968, it made front-page news and led to his resignation from the military. Written by Rowe as part of his own personal process to make sense of the complicated war, it raises questions still relevant in global conflicts today.