From Odessa To Odessa: The Journey Of An Australian Writer
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:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Born in the Black Sea port of Odessa and raised in the hard-scrabble world of immigrant Australia, Judah Waten charts a remarkable personal and literary odyssey that spans continents, cultures, and decades. From Odessa to Odessa: The Journey of an Australian Writer is a memoir-travelogue that chronicles Waten's return to the Soviet city of his birth, weaving together strands of Jewish identity, political conviction, and the restless search for belonging that defined both his life and his celebrated fiction. Written with the quiet authority of a man who witnessed the great upheavals of the twentieth century firsthand, the narrative moves between the dusty Australian suburbs of his youth and the storied streets of Odessa with elegance and emotional precision. Waten, best known for his pioneering short story collection Alien Son, was one of the first Australian writers to give authentic literary voice to the migrant experience, and this work stands as a compelling testament to that lifelong mission. The prose is reflective yet unsentimental, anchored in sharp social observation and a deep engagement with questions of nationalism, diaspora, and the writer's responsibility to his community. Readers left wondering which Odessa — the one of memory or the one of return — held the greater truth will find no easy answer, only an invitation to keep reading.
Author: Judah Waten
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Born in the Black Sea port of Odessa and raised in the hard-scrabble world of immigrant Australia, Judah Waten charts a remarkable personal and literary odyssey that spans continents, cultures, and decades. From Odessa to Odessa: The Journey of an Australian Writer is a memoir-travelogue that chronicles Waten's return to the Soviet city of his birth, weaving together strands of Jewish identity, political conviction, and the restless search for belonging that defined both his life and his celebrated fiction. Written with the quiet authority of a man who witnessed the great upheavals of the twentieth century firsthand, the narrative moves between the dusty Australian suburbs of his youth and the storied streets of Odessa with elegance and emotional precision. Waten, best known for his pioneering short story collection Alien Son, was one of the first Australian writers to give authentic literary voice to the migrant experience, and this work stands as a compelling testament to that lifelong mission. The prose is reflective yet unsentimental, anchored in sharp social observation and a deep engagement with questions of nationalism, diaspora, and the writer's responsibility to his community. Readers left wondering which Odessa — the one of memory or the one of return — held the greater truth will find no easy answer, only an invitation to keep reading.