Steam Pigs is the 1997 debut novel by Melissa Lucashenko. It concerns Sue Wilson, a young Murri woman, who explores her Indigenous identity while living in Brisbane.
.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Melissa Lucashenko |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Published | 1997 (University of Queensland Press) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 245 |
| ISBN | 978-0-702-22935-0 |
| OCLC | 1088063432 |
Reception edit
A review in The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education wrote that "Steam Pigs takes us into the world of today's "untermensch" ...",[1] and that it "..is a woman's book set in a very particular place and at a very particular time; but it confronts themes that are eternal and universal.".[1] A Lesbians on the Loose review called it "...as unsentimental as it is empathetic.".[2]
Steam Pigs has also been reviewed by the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature,[3] Social Alternatives,[4] Australian Literary Studies,[5] Queensland Review,[6] and Ilha do Desterro.[7]
An excerpt appears in the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature.[8]
Awards edit
- 1998 Dobbie Literary Award winner[9]
- 1998 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (South-East Asia and Pacific Region) – shortlist for Best First Book[10]
- 1999 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[which?] shortlist[10]
References edit
- ^ a b Sam Watson (December 1999). "Steam Pigs". The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 27 (2). Cambridge University Press: 56. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Sylvia Martin (November 1997). "between the covers". Lesbians on the Loose. Vol. 8, no. 11. Frances Rand, Barbara Farrelly. p. 29. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ "Exploring Indigenous Identity in Suburbia: Melissa Lucashenko's Steam Pigs". Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 10. Association for the Study of Australian Literature (Australia). 2010. ISSN 1447-8986. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
Although Lucashenko presents the treatment of Indigenous Australians by non-Indigenous Australians in a rather negative manner, she also candidly addresses problems within the Indigenous community, ... In Steam Pigs, Lucashenko explicitly depicts suburbia as co-occupying Indigenous land; she is the first Australian novelist to do so and thus her novel is radical on that count alone.
- ^ Christine Watson (1998). "New Indigenous writing (subscription required)". Social Alternatives: 51–53. ISSN 0155-0306.
- ^ Margaret Henderson (1998). "Subdivisions of Suburbia: the Politics of Place in Melissa Lucashenko's 'Steam Pigs' and Amanda Lohrey's 'Camille's Bread.'". Australian Literary Studies. 1: 72. ISSN 1837-6479.
- ^ Kelly Palmer (2018). "The beach as (hu)man limit in Gold Coast narrative fiction" (PDF). Queensland Review. 25 (1). Cambridge University Press: 149–162. doi:10.1017/qre.2018.13. S2CID 150353497. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Carole Ferrier (2016). "Resistance and sovereignty in some recent Australian Indigenous women's novels". Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies. 69 (2). Federal University of Santa Catarina: 17–31. ISSN 0101-4846.
- ^ Nicholas Jose, ed. (2009). "Melissa Lucashenko (b. 1967) From Steam Pigs". Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74175-440-7. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ "2018 Nita B Kibble Literary Awards For Women Writers: History of Shortlisted Authors - 1998: Dobbie Recipient". perpetual.com.au. Perpetual Limited. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Melissa Lucashenko". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
Further reading edit
- Nathanael O'Reilly (2012). "A New Generation Perpetuates the Anti-Suburban Tradition: Melissa Lucashenko's Steam Pigs (1997) and A. L. McCann's Subtopia (2005)". Exploring Suburbia: The Suburbs in the Contemporary Australian Novel. Teneo Press. ISBN 978-1934-8-4494-6.