A Handful Of Pennies
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.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A landmark work of Australian autobiographical fiction, A Handful of Pennies chronicles Hal Porter's years spent teaching in occupied Japan in the late 1940s, offering a vivid and unflinching portrait of a nation rebuilding itself from the ruins of war. With his characteristically ornate and precise prose, Porter presents the cultural collision between Australian sensibility and Japanese tradition with both sharp wit and deep empathy. The narrative uncovers the complexities of the occupation — the uneasy power dynamics, the resilience of the Japanese people, and the peculiar isolation felt by foreigners navigating a world of profound difference. Porter's keen observational eye transforms personal memoir into a broader meditation on identity, displacement, and the strange intimacies that emerge between conqueror and conquered. Rich in atmospheric detail and psychological insight, it stands as one of the most distinctive and accomplished works in the Australian literary canon.
Author: Hal Porter
Format: Hardback
Published: 1958, Angus and Robertson
Genre: Modern fiction
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A landmark work of Australian autobiographical fiction, A Handful of Pennies chronicles Hal Porter's years spent teaching in occupied Japan in the late 1940s, offering a vivid and unflinching portrait of a nation rebuilding itself from the ruins of war. With his characteristically ornate and precise prose, Porter presents the cultural collision between Australian sensibility and Japanese tradition with both sharp wit and deep empathy. The narrative uncovers the complexities of the occupation — the uneasy power dynamics, the resilience of the Japanese people, and the peculiar isolation felt by foreigners navigating a world of profound difference. Porter's keen observational eye transforms personal memoir into a broader meditation on identity, displacement, and the strange intimacies that emerge between conqueror and conquered. Rich in atmospheric detail and psychological insight, it stands as one of the most distinctive and accomplished works in the Australian literary canon.