The Faber Book of Contemporary Australian Short Stories

by Murray Bail (Editor)

Collects representative short stories by Christina Stead, Peter Cowan, David Malouf, Peter Carey, and Kate Grenville

Genres: Australia, Fiction, Short Stories

432 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1988

About the author

Murray Bail (born 22 September 1941) is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction.

He was born in Adelaide, South Australia. He has lived most of his life in Australia except for sojourns in India (1968–70) and England and Europe (1970–74). He currently lives in Sydney.

He was trustee of the National Gallery of Australia from 1976 to 1981, and wrote a book on Australian artist Ian Fairweather.

A portrait of Bail by the artist Fred Williams is hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. The portrait was done while both Williams and Bail were Council members of the National Gallery of Australia

Reviews

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Marjorie Barnard: The persimmon tree --3
*Christina Stead: A harmless affair
*Christina Stead: My friend, Lafe Tilly
Hal Porter: Gretel
*Judah Waten: Mother
*Dal Stivens: The wonderfully intelligent sheep-dog
*Patrick White: Down at the dump
*Patrick White: Clay
*Peter Cowan: The voice
Olga Masters: A rat in the building
*Elizabeth Jolley: Five acre Virgin
Elizabeth Jolley: Frederick the Great returns to Fairfields
*Elizabeth Harrower: The cost of things
Shirley Hazzard: The meeting
Fay Zwicky: Hostages
*David Malouf: The sun in winter
Frank Moorhouse: From Bush log book : Going into the Heartlands with the wrong person at Christmas
Frank Moorhouse: Libido and life lessons
Gerald Murnane: The only Adam
Beverley Farmer: Melpo
*Beverley Farmer: A man in the laundrette
*Helen Garner: The life of art
*Helen Garner: What we say
*Michael Wilding: The sybarites
*Michael Wilding: The man of slow feeling
Peter Carey: American dreams --2
*Peter Carey: Do you love me?
Barry Hill: Fires on the beach
Barbara Brooks: Summer in Sydney
*Joan London: New year
*Kate Grenville: Slow dissolve

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must have this book because it was assigned for a course at Sydney Uni. I’ve carried it with me all these years. I really enjoyed the collection, of which I remembered virtually nothing except Helen Garner’s character’s remark in ‘The Life of Art’: “Have you ever noticed how Australian men, even in their forties, dress like small boys? They wear shorts and thongs and little stripy T-shirts.”

Stand-out stories for me include Judah Waten’s “Mother” (1952), Elizabeth Jolley’s “Frederick the Great Returns to Fairfields” (1983), David Malouf’s “The Sun in Winter” (1985), Frank Moorhouse’s “Libido and Life Lessons” (1987), Beverley Farmer’s “A Man in the Laundrette” (1985), Peter Carey’s “Do You Love Me?” (1979), and Barbara Brooks’ “Summer in Sydney “ (1983).

[Ardith]

Kept me very entertained on an airplane flight once. Great stories.