 | |
| Author | Jilly Cooper |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Australia |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Eyre Methuen |
Publication date | 1982 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| ISBN | 978-0-552-12359-4 |
| Website | https://www.jillycooper.co.uk/books/jolly-marsupial/ |
Jolly Marsupial: Down Under and Other Scenes is a 1982 collection of humorous journalism by English author Jilly Cooper. The collection is based on her 1980 tour of Australia to promote her book Class , but also includes other journalism.
Based on an account of Cooper's 17 day tour of Australia in 1980, which took place to promote her 1979 book Class. [1] [2] Her account of the tour was published in full in this book for the first time, having been significantly cute by her editors on its first publication. [2] Parts of the tour account had also been previously serialised in the Australia publication The Age. [3] The book also includes excerpts from her journalism for The Sunday Times and The Mail on Sunday. [4] [5] [2]
Upon publication the Manchester Evening News described the volume as Cooper "at her rib-tickling" best. [6] The Toronto Star, in a 1983 review of the book described how Cooper had a "vast readership, not all admiring" and went on to describe her as the "hyena priestess of English journalism". [2] It compared her to the American writers Jimmy Breslin and Dorothy Parker and the English diarist Samuel Pepys. [2] It highlighted the critical nature of many of her observations, including those on Australia and the feminist magazine Spare Rib. [2]