 First edition | |
| Author | Christina Stead |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Angus and Robertson |
Publication date | 1973 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 191pp |
| ISBN | 0207955301 |
| Preceded by | Dark Places of the Heart |
| Followed by | Miss Herbert (The Suburban Wife) |
The Little Hotel (1973) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
In a small European hotel in the late 1940s a bizarre group of characters, who all seem to be on the run from some past financial, personal or political horror, come together.
In a short survey of books for the 1974 Christmas market, Margaret Sydney noted in The Australian Women's Weekly that "This novel is one to treasure, because of its humor, its beautiful writing, its understanding of the way in which bothered people tick." [1]
Kegan Gardiner has written an extended review essay on the novel and finds: "Despite some gaps in its narrative point of view, The Little Hotel is a shapely piece of fiction, with coherent parallel plotting, a careful array of interconnected characters, and rich patterns of imagery." And continues "Unusually for Stead, in The Little Hotel we hear less of her characters’ speeches than we might like. The characters and their pasts are gradually revealed, with much left open to our imaginations. This is a subtle novel, a term rarely applied to Stead." [2]
Part of novel was previously published as a short story entitled "The Woman in the Bed" in Meanjin Quarterly, Summer 1968. [3]
Maurice Dunlevy notes, in The Canberra Times in 1987, that he heard Stead state in a 1969 lecture that she never wrote to the direction of a publisher. He then goes on "I do know that her claim about never writing for a special audience was a lie. The woman who never wrote at the dictates of a publisher actually wrote The Little Hotel for a very special audience of one, or so she said. She told Elizabeth Riddell in 1973 that she had written it as an affectionate tribute to her Seeker and Warburg editor, Oliver Stallybrass. It was for his eyes only, not to be published, but he had insisted it should be." [4]
Christina Stead was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a member of the Communist Party. She spent much of her life outside Australia, although she returned before her death.
Eleanor Alice Hibbert was an English author who combined imagination with facts to bring history alive through novels of fiction and romance. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty; Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. A literary split personality, she also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under the various pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.
Dorothy Auchterlonie was an English-born Australian academic, literary critic and poet.
The Man Who Loved Children is a 1940 novel by Australian writer Christina Stead. It was not until a reissue edition in 1965, with an introduction by poet Randall Jarrell, that it found widespread critical acclaim and popularity. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. The novel has been championed by novelists Robert Stone, Jonathan Franzen and Angela Carter. Carter believed Stead's other novels Cotters England; A Little Tea, A Little Chat; and For Love Alone to be as good, if not better than The Man Who Loved Children.
Margaret Isobel Fulton was a Scottish-born Australian food and cooking writer, journalist, author and commentator. She was the first of this genre of writers in Australia.
Marjorie Faith Barnard was an Australian novelist and short story writer, critic, historian—and librarian. She went to school and university in Sydney, and then trained as a librarian. She was employed as a librarian for two periods in her life, but her main passion was writing.
M. Barnard Eldershaw was the pseudonym used by the twentieth-century Australian literary collaborators Marjorie Barnard (1897–1987) and Flora Eldershaw (1897–1956). In a collaboration that lasted two decades from the late 1920s to the late 1940s, they published 5 novels, 3 histories, a radio drama, a collection of short stories, and several collections of critical essays and lectures.
The Acolyte is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley first published in 1972.
Letty Fox: Her Luck is Australian-born author Christina Stead’s sixth novel. It is a tribute to the drama of the urban environment and its role in socializing its occupants. Published in 1946, Stead wrote the lengthy Letty Fox after living in New York City for seven years. The cosmopolitan setting serves well as the theater in which Stead develops her characters through their adventures with numerous careers, love affairs, familial obligations, and sensitivities to reputation. To this end, Letty Fox has been described as “a modern picaresque novel and psychological novel at the same time.”
Marie Louise Hamilton Mack was an Australian poet, journalist and novelist. She is most known for her writings and her involvement in World War I in 1914 as the first woman war correspondent in Belgium.
I'm Dying Laughing: The Humourist is a novel by Christina Stead (1902–1983). It was published posthumously by Virago Press in 1986, edited and with a preface by Ron Geering.
The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an adventurer and convict.
Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934) is the first novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
For Love Alone (1944) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
The Beauties and Furies (1936) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
House of All Nations (1938) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
A Little Tea, a Little Chat (1948) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
Dark Places of the Heart (1966) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead. This novel is also known by the title Cotter's England.
The Fear (1965) is a novel by Australian writer Thomas Keneally. The novel is also known by the title By the Line.
Gwen Kelly was an award-winning Australian novelist, short story writer and poet, whose fourth novel, Always Afternoon, was made into a television mini-series in 1988. She was considered by some to be one of the "major Australian writers", whose novels are "an intimate chronicling of women's lives and of our yesterdays", "probing stereotypical Australian attitudes and behaviour".