What do you think?
Rate this book
The Electrical Experience: A Discontinuous Narrative
T. George McDowell believes in Getting the Job Done. A manufacturer of soft drinks on the south coast of New South Wales, he is a Rotarian, an apostle of Progress, of electricity, refrigeration and the wireless.
Of the generation born just after federation, T. George McDowell sees himself as a bastion of quality, reason and stability in a world that is not changing for the better. His youngest daughter, Terri, seems determined to put his beliefs to the test.
Of the generation born just after federation, T. George McDowell sees himself as a bastion of quality, reason and stability in a world that is not changing for the better. His youngest daughter, Terri, seems determined to put his beliefs to the test.
204 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
2 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Frank Moorhouse
54 books55 followersFrank Thomas Moorhouse AM (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer. He won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States and also translated into German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Serbian, and Swedish.
Moorhouse was perhaps best known for winning the 2001 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel, Dark Palace; which together with Grand Days and Cold Light, the "Edith Trilogy" is a fictional account of the League of Nations, which trace the strange, convoluted life of a young woman who enters the world of diplomacy in the 1920s through to her involvement in the newly formed International Atomic Energy Agency after World War II.
The author of 18 books, Moorhouse became a full-time fiction writer during the 1970s, also writing essays, short stories, journalism and film, radio and TV scripts.
In his early career he developed a narrative structure which he has described as the 'discontinuous narrative'. He lived for many years in Balmain, where together with Clive James, Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes, he became part of the "Sydney Push" - an anti-censorship movement that protested against rightwing politics and championed freedom of speech and sexual liberation. In 1975 he played a fundamental role in the evolution of copyright law in Australia in the case University of New South Wales v Moorhouse. - Wikipedia
Moorhouse was perhaps best known for winning the 2001 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel, Dark Palace; which together with Grand Days and Cold Light, the "Edith Trilogy" is a fictional account of the League of Nations, which trace the strange, convoluted life of a young woman who enters the world of diplomacy in the 1920s through to her involvement in the newly formed International Atomic Energy Agency after World War II.
The author of 18 books, Moorhouse became a full-time fiction writer during the 1970s, also writing essays, short stories, journalism and film, radio and TV scripts.
In his early career he developed a narrative structure which he has described as the 'discontinuous narrative'. He lived for many years in Balmain, where together with Clive James, Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes, he became part of the "Sydney Push" - an anti-censorship movement that protested against rightwing politics and championed freedom of speech and sexual liberation. In 1975 he played a fundamental role in the evolution of copyright law in Australia in the case University of New South Wales v Moorhouse. - Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 22, 2022
I had a little buying spree after the death of Frank Moorhouse earlier this year, and found copies of Forty-seventeen (1988) and this one, The Electrical Experience: a Discontinuous Narrative from 1974. It's wrongly entered at Wikipedia as a short story, but at 188 pages it's not. It's a modernist novella. and I reckon that makes it his first novel and a remarkable debut...
The book is prefaced by two Tables of Contents, one listing the more-or-less chronological and coherent narratives about T. George McDowell (TGM) and the mystery of a man who thinks that business is all that matters, and the other listing fragments which purport to be authoritative miscellanea that support George's preoccupations, plus some B&W photos from the early 20th century. It's a clever structure which he termed a discontinuous narrative which was innovative for its time.
Born just after Federation, TGM is a businessman who makes soft drinks on the NSW south coast. He's a man of strong opinions, though he keeps many of them to himself. He is anti-government and anti-union, and he broke a local strike by hassling the weakest individuals until they gave in under pressure. He thinks that reason, progress and stability are defence against a changing world that he doesn't like, represented by his wayward third daughter Terri. (He was, of course, hoping for a son.) He has a pragmatic marriage and a stalwart wife, and he's obsessed by electrification, refrigeration and the wireless. He likes the positive American approach in the Readers' Digest.
While on the one hand the narratives reveal TGM's enthusiasm for Rotary, hard work, and Getting Things Done, they also reveal the hollowness of his philosophy.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/11/20/t...
The book is prefaced by two Tables of Contents, one listing the more-or-less chronological and coherent narratives about T. George McDowell (TGM) and the mystery of a man who thinks that business is all that matters, and the other listing fragments which purport to be authoritative miscellanea that support George's preoccupations, plus some B&W photos from the early 20th century. It's a clever structure which he termed a discontinuous narrative which was innovative for its time.
Born just after Federation, TGM is a businessman who makes soft drinks on the NSW south coast. He's a man of strong opinions, though he keeps many of them to himself. He is anti-government and anti-union, and he broke a local strike by hassling the weakest individuals until they gave in under pressure. He thinks that reason, progress and stability are defence against a changing world that he doesn't like, represented by his wayward third daughter Terri. (He was, of course, hoping for a son.) He has a pragmatic marriage and a stalwart wife, and he's obsessed by electrification, refrigeration and the wireless. He likes the positive American approach in the Readers' Digest.
While on the one hand the narratives reveal TGM's enthusiasm for Rotary, hard work, and Getting Things Done, they also reveal the hollowness of his philosophy.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/11/20/t...
July 31, 2020
what a fucking weird book. brilliant.
September 18, 2016
An odd but entertaining read.
October 8, 2019
3.5 stars. My response to this text is very much like my response to Catcher in the Rye. That being, that while I don't particularly like the main character George McDowell, I did enjoy the book itself. Particuarlly enjoyed the fragmentation of the narrative, with short snippets of study punctuated by external guides, tips, hints and excerpts. Overall it was an interesting read.
May 16, 2018
✔ POPSUAGR Reading Challenge: A book with Alliteration in the title ✔
yeaaaa reading australian modernist lit - not confusing at. all. (still really enjoyed this one though!!)
yeaaaa reading australian modernist lit - not confusing at. all. (still really enjoyed this one though!!)
April 17, 2020
A discontinuous narrative that is easy and interesting to read. The main character is fantastic.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews