199:"Jack Trap is an awe-inspiring mixture of Irish, English, Aborigine, and even Tierra del Fuegan. But he looks Aboriginal.Admired by a few, hated by many, he is needed by more than care to admit it. Trap affects everyone. He is a shifting product of the back streets, passively resisting poverty and racialism, occasionally indulging in bursts of aggression. Peter Mathers knows Trap, as he knows his background. Out of Trap he has fashioned Trap the symbol - around which lurk a variety of characters who represent the different aspects of an oppressive society. There are entertaining tales of his unlikely forebears; his father Wilson, who was unlucky enough to look white; his grandmother from South America; and his cedar-cutting grandfather, Armstrong Irish Trap. Peter Mathers deals gently with the underdog, reserving his most vitriolic satire for the affluent conformists. His original style and humour make Trap a biting, very funny novel." (From the dustjacket of the first edition)
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From a commentary published on goodreads.com: "Difficult can be good. Enormous fun. A uniquely
Australian book about mid-20th century rural life and big business. Full of politics and satire and comic, romping scenarios and literary fireworks. This is one of the funniest novels written, anywhere;
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inventive, clever, witty, ribald, experimental ... it has many strengths but I recall talking to the author in 1997 and he indicated he wanted to re-edit it; he told me the book was produced in a hurry amid a corporate sell-out, and has never received adequate attention in editing."
63:. From 1964 he worked in Britain and Europe as a researcher. His first writing appeared in the early 1960s, and in 1967 he took up a writing fellowship in the United States. He returned to Australia in 1968.
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Mathers' family emigrated to
Australia while he was a child. He attended state school in
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concerning the escapades and family history of Jack Trap, an urban mixed-blood
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147:"Sunshine and Shambles: the Peter Mathers Papers - No 83 May 2009"
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for many years prior to his death in 2004 from pancreatic cancer.
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78:in what was then a society racially divided by the
55:In 1961 he married and went to France to live in a
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29:(16 July 1931 in England – 8 November 2004 in
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66:In 1966 Mathers completed his first novel,
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249:"Neglected but not forgotten storyteller"
177:. Sydney University Press. Archived from
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117:. Some short stories were collected as
59:forest. His two daughters were born in
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209:Williams, Michael (15 January 2005).
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16:Australian author and playwright
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19:For the British diplomat, see
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302:Miles Franklin Literary Award
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84:Miles Franklin Literary Award
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70:, an inventive and often
46:Sydney Technical College
21:Peter Mathers (diplomat)
119:A Change For the Better
37:author and playwright.
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33:) was an English-born
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86:, His second novel,
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48:, where he studied
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256:. Retrieved
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179:the original
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44:, and later
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760:2004 deaths
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613:Alex Miller
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574:Murray Bail
568:Peter Carey
544:Rodney Hall
538:Alex Miller
514:Peter Carey
478:Rodney Hall
472:Peter Carey
410:Thea Astley
398:Dal Stivens
368:Thea Astley
346:Thea Astley
258:12 February
156:14 February
103:Pelaco Hill
99:radio plays
72:comic novel
50:agriculture
749:Categories
649:Tim Winton
607:Tim Winton
532:Tim Winton
487:Tim Winton
132:References
35:Australian
679:Evie Wyld
661:Kim Scott
584:Kim Scott
520:Tom Flood
448:Ruth Park
435:1976–2000
309:1957–1975
220:19 August
185:19 August
126:Melbourne
31:Melbourne
57:cork oak
215:The Age
735:(2023)
729:(2022)
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61:London
42:Sydney
260:2022
222:2008
187:2008
158:2024
113:and
107:Bats
68:Trap
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166:^
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109:,
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293:e
286:t
279:v
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23:.
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