The Poison of Polygamy
Language: English
Published by Sydney University Press, AU, 2019
- Softcover
- New
Seller: Rarewaves.com UK, London, United KingdomRarewaves.com UK
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
Condition: New
£ 26.12
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Serialised in 1909-10, The Poison of Polygamy is a rare gem of Australian literature.The first novel of the Chinese Australian experience, it is a roller-coaster tale of blackmail, murder, betrayal and even thylacine attack, partly based on real people, places and events. Revealing the human face of migration between imperial China and colonial Australia, it recounts the story of a man from southern China who tries his luck on the Victorian goldfields, the wife he leaves behind, and their eventual fraught reunion.In this bilingual parallel edition, Australia's and possibly the West's earliest Chinese-language novel is presented in English translation for the first time. Illuminating introductions explore the work's historical, cultural and linguistic context, and establish its unique significance in Australia's literary and social history."A shiny little nugget has been disinterred from the tailings of our literary past . The Poison of Polygamy is an exciting addition to our literary history that deserves to be widely discussed and analysed in both China and Australia." David Walker, Emeritus Professor, Deakin University and author of Anxious Nation"The discovery of The Poison of Polygamy and its publication in this highly informative bilingual edition is a double happiness. It gives readers a highly entertaining new novel, replete with drama, emotion and intrigue. At the same time it documents Chinese Australian life in a key period of history." Nicholas Jose, author of Avenue of Eternal Peace.…
Seller Inventory # LU-9781743326022
- Title
- The Poison of Polygamy
- Author
- Wong Shee Ping
- Publisher
- Sydney University Press, AU
- Publication year
- 2019
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1743326025
- ISBN 13
- 9781743326022
- Item weight
- 400 grams
Serialised 1909–10, The Poison of Polygamy is a rare gem of Australian literature.
The first novel of the Chinese Australian experience, it is a roller-coaster tale of blackmail, murder, betrayal and even thylacine attack, partly based on real people, places and events. Revealing the human face of migration between imperial China and colonial Australia, it recounts the story of a man from southern China who tries his luck on the Victorian goldfields, the wife he leaves behind, and their eventual fraught reunion.
In this bilingual edition, Australia’s and possibly the West’s earliest Chinese-language novel is presented in English translation for the first time. Illuminating introductions explore the work’s historical, cultural and linguistic context, and establish its unique significance in Australia’s literary and social history.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Wong Shee Ping was a writer for Melbourne’s Chinese Times, a Christian preacher, a Chinese revolutionary and a member of a prominent family in Victoria’s Chinese business community. He is reported to have spoken little English, yet he made it his mission to espouse Western-influenced values and ideas.
Ely Finch is a consultant translator and linguist who specialises in historical documents and inscriptions written in literary (classical) Chinese, Cantonese, and other southern Chinese languages. His expertise and work on Australian Chinese-language historical material has been of assistance to historians, archaeologists, museums and other institutions, and has garnered widespread academic and community attention in recent years.
Mei-fen Kuo is a scholar of Chinese Australians from a diasporic perspective. Her Making Chinese Australia: Urban Elites, Newspapers and the Formation of Chinese Australian Identity, 1892–1912, was shortlisted for the W K Hancock Prize, and, with Judith Brett, she authored Unlocking the History of the Australasian Kuo Min Tang, 1911–2013. Mei-fen was an ARC DECRA Fellow at the University of Queensland and is currently a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University under the MOFA Taiwan Fellowship.
Michael Williams is an historian of the Chinese diaspora and is a founding member of the Chinese Australian Historical Society. His current research involves a history of the dictation test, a history of Chinese opera in Australia, and a comparison of Australia’s pre-1949 Chinese-Australian history with its post-1989 history. Michael is an adjunct fellow with the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University and is the author of Returning Home with Glory (Hong Kong University Press, 2018). Michael also teaches courses in Australian history and Chinese in the world at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
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