The Transit of Venus

Last updated
The Transit of Venus
The Transit of Venus.jpg
First edition
Author Shirley Hazzard
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date
1980
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages352 (first edition)
ISBN 9780140107470 (first edition)

The Transit of Venus is a 1980 novel written by Australian author Shirley Hazzard. It won the 1980 National Book Critics Circle Award. [1]

Overview

Two orphaned Australian sisters, Caroline and Grace Bell, emigrate to England in the 1950s. A young astronomer, Ted Tice, falls in love with Caroline, and the next thirty years of his life are dedicated to his pursuit of her; however, Caroline prefers the unscrupulous Paul Ivory, a playwright. Meanwhile, Grace settles into marriage with officious bureaucrat Christian Thrale. [2] [3]

The Sydney Review of Books wrote of the novel:

The novel is about the greater humanity that one gains by refusing glibness, resisting the cheap shot. Ted Tice rejects the accidental (and thus cheap, illusory and illegitimate) power offered by merely perceiving another’s weakness and exploiting it. The novel is a call to resist vulgar power, the type gained through reduction, through first impressions, through stereotype or quick certainty. For a person of Ted’s moral fibre, the end will never justify the means. The only advantage he will accept is that bestowed on him by his own strength of character. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Elkin</span> American novelist, essayist, and professor

Stanley Lawrence Elkin was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male-female relationships.

<i>Terms of Endearment</i> 1983 drama film directed by James L. Brooks

Terms of Endearment is a 1983 American family tragicomedy film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma Greenway-Horton (Winger).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Shirley</span> American novelist

John Shirley is an American writer, primarily of horror, fantasy, science fiction, dark street fiction, westerns, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, Wyatt in Wichita, and one non-fiction book, Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas. Shirley has written novels, short stories, TV scripts and screenplays—including The Crow—and has published over 84 books including 10 short-story collections. As a musician, Shirley has fronted his own bands and written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and others. His newest novels are Stormland and Axle Bust Creek.

A Transit of Venus occurs when the planet Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth, as it happened in:

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Hazzard</span> Australian-born American novelist and short story writer (1931-2016)

Shirley Hazzard was an Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was born in Australia and also held U.S. citizenship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Davies</span> Australian writer

Luke Davies is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. His best known works are Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction and the screenplay for the film Lion, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Davies also co-wrote the screenplay for the film News of the World.

Catherine Ruth Jennings was an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist.

<i>The Great Fire</i> (Hazzard novel) 2003 novel by Shirley Hazzard

The Great Fire (2003) is a novel by the Australian author Shirley Hazzard. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and a Miles Franklin literary award (2004). The novel was Hazzard's first since The Transit of Venus, published in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samara Weaving</span> Australian actress and model (born 1992)

Samara Weaving is an Australian actress and model. She gained attention for her work in Australian television, appearing on the series Out of the Blue (2008) and receiving an AACTA Award nomination for playing Indi Walker on the soap opera Home and Away (2009–2013). She made her transition to Hollywood starring on the first season of the series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015).

<i>Monkey Grip</i> (novel) Novel by Helen Garner

Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. Set in Melbourne, the novel follows single-mother Nora as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in bohemian share houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Specktor</span> American novelist and screenwriter (born 1966)

Matthew Specktor is an American novelist and screenwriter.

Found footage is a cinematic technique in which all or a substantial part of the work is presented as if it were film or video recordings recorded by characters in the story, and later "found" and presented to the audience. The events on screen are typically seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved, often accompanied by their real-time, off-camera commentary. For added realism, the cinematography may be done by the actors themselves as they perform, and shaky camera work and naturalistic acting are routinely employed. The footage may be presented as if it were "raw" and complete or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it.

Karen Brooks is an Australian author, columnist, social commentator and academic. She writes fantasy novels for children and young adults, under both Karen Brooks and Karen R. Brooks and has also published short stories and non-fiction works. Since completing her fantasy trilogy, The Curse of the Bond Riders, she has focused on writing standalone novels.

The Lost Man Booker Prize was a special edition of the Man Booker Prize awarded by a public vote in 2010 to a novel from 1970 as the books published in 1970 were not eligible for the Man Booker Prize due to a rules alteration; until 1970 the prize was awarded to books published in the previous year, while from 1971 onwards it was awarded to books published the same year as the award. The prize was won by J. G. Farrell for Troubles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">If You Want My Love</span> 1982 single by Cheap Trick

"If You Want My Love" is a song by American rock band Cheap Trick, released in 1982 as the lead single from their sixth studio album One on One. It was written by guitarist Rick Nielsen and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. It reached number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report chart.

<i>Transit of Venus</i> (album) 2012 studio album by Three Days Grace

Transit of Venus is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. It was released on October 2, 2012 through RCA Records. The album is the band's first to be released under the record label, following the folding of their former label, Jive Records, in 2011. The album was produced by Don Gilmore and recorded at Revolution Studios in Toronto.

<i>LaRose</i> (novel) 2016 novel by Louise Erdrich

LaRose is a novel by the Ojibwe author Louise Erdrich, published in 2016 by HarperCollins. The book received positive reviews from multiple publications, including The New York Times, The Kansas City Star, Winnipeg Free Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, The A.V. Club, The Sydney Morning Herald, USA Today, and The Chronicle Herald. It won the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction. The novel features the same setting as Erdrich's 2012 novel The Round House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Baird (journalist)</span> Australian journalist and author

Julia Woodlands Baird is an Australian journalist, broadcaster and author. She contributes to The New York Times and The Sydney Morning Herald and has been a regular host of The Drum, a television news review program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Her non-fiction work includes a bestselling memoir, a biography on Queen Victoria and a meditation on the experience of grace during a time of dark politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Cline</span> American writer

Emma Cline is an American writer and novelist from California. She published her first novel, The Girls, in 2016, to positive reviews. The book was shortlisted for the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her story collection, Daddy, was published in 2020, and her second novel, The Guest, was published in 2023. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Tin House, Granta, and The Paris Review. In 2017, Cline was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists, and Forbes named her one of their "30 Under 30 in Media". She is a recipient of the Plimpton Prize and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

References

  1. "A Look Back at Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus". National Book Critics Circle . 25 January 2008. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  2. Specktor, Matthew (2016-12-19). "Shirley Hazzard, 1931–2016". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  3. Sehgal, Parul (2021-03-09). "A Modern Classic Addresses Elemental Questions About Love and Power". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  4. Wood, Charlotte (21 April 2015). "Across the face of the sun". Sydney Review of Books . Retrieved 19 March 2023.

General references