Sneaky Little Revolutions
Selected Essays of Charmian Clift
Published on 1. April 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-1-74223-744-2 (ISBN)
Description
'I know it's a daring suggestion, but I'll make it anyway.'
Charmian Clift was a writer ahead of her time. Lyrical and fearless, her essays seamlessly the personal and the political.
In 1964, Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston returned to Australia after living and writing for many years in the cosmopolitan community of artists on the Greek island of Hydra. Back in Sydney, Clift found her opinions were far more progressive than those of many of her fellow Australians.
This new edition of Charmian Clift's essays, selected and introduced by her biographer Nadia Wheatley, are drawn from the weekly newspaper column Clift wrote through the turbulent and transformative years of the 1960s. In these 'sneaky little revolutions', as Clift once called them, she supported the rights of women and migrants, called for social justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, opposed conscription and the war in Vietnam, acknowledged Australia's role in the Asia-Pacific, fought censorship, called for an Australian film industry - and much more. In doing so, she set a new benchmark for the form of the essay in Australian literature.
Charmian Clift was a writer ahead of her time. Lyrical and fearless, her essays seamlessly the personal and the political.
In 1964, Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston returned to Australia after living and writing for many years in the cosmopolitan community of artists on the Greek island of Hydra. Back in Sydney, Clift found her opinions were far more progressive than those of many of her fellow Australians.
This new edition of Charmian Clift's essays, selected and introduced by her biographer Nadia Wheatley, are drawn from the weekly newspaper column Clift wrote through the turbulent and transformative years of the 1960s. In these 'sneaky little revolutions', as Clift once called them, she supported the rights of women and migrants, called for social justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, opposed conscription and the war in Vietnam, acknowledged Australia's role in the Asia-Pacific, fought censorship, called for an Australian film industry - and much more. In doing so, she set a new benchmark for the form of the essay in Australian literature.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Sydney, NSW
Australia
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
610 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-74223-744-2 (9781742237442)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Nadia Wheatley is the author of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift. Described by critic Peter Craven as 'one of the greatest Australian biographies,' this was the Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2001, and won the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize (2002). After twenty years it remains the classic account of the life and work of this transformational Australian writer. Nadia Wheatley's other works include the award-winning memoir Her Mother's Daughter. Her most recent book, Radicals - Remembering the Sixties, written in partnership with Meredith Burgmann, was published by NewSouth in 2021.