Illywhacker
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: yellowed. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear.
At 139 years old, Herbert Badgery — liar, charmer, and self-proclaimed illywhacker (Australian slang for a small-time confidence trickster) — recounts a life lived at the chaotic, contradictory heart of Australian history, weaving a sprawling, picaresque narrative that spans the twentieth century. Peter Carey's second novel chronicles the misadventures of Badgery and his colourful descendants across a newly federated nation, from outback aeroplanes to pet shops, unravelling a bawdy, outrageous saga that doubles as a sly, subversive meditation on Australian identity and the myths nations tell about themselves. Carey writes with exuberant invention and savage wit, crafting a novel that is at once a family saga, a postmodern fable, and a grand act of literary ventriloquism. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1985, Illywhacker stands as one of the landmark works of Australian literature — a book that asks, with irresistible mischief, whether the entire nation is built on nothing more than the art of the con.
Author: Peter Carey
Format: Hardback
Published: 1985, -
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: yellowed. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear.
At 139 years old, Herbert Badgery — liar, charmer, and self-proclaimed illywhacker (Australian slang for a small-time confidence trickster) — recounts a life lived at the chaotic, contradictory heart of Australian history, weaving a sprawling, picaresque narrative that spans the twentieth century. Peter Carey's second novel chronicles the misadventures of Badgery and his colourful descendants across a newly federated nation, from outback aeroplanes to pet shops, unravelling a bawdy, outrageous saga that doubles as a sly, subversive meditation on Australian identity and the myths nations tell about themselves. Carey writes with exuberant invention and savage wit, crafting a novel that is at once a family saga, a postmodern fable, and a grand act of literary ventriloquism. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1985, Illywhacker stands as one of the landmark works of Australian literature — a book that asks, with irresistible mischief, whether the entire nation is built on nothing more than the art of the con.