Theory & practice : a novel / Michelle De Kretser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Kretser, Michelle, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941--Criticism and interpretation--Fiction.

Woolf, Virginia.

Fiction--Appreciation--Fiction.

Fiction.

Books--Psychological aspects--Fiction.

Books.

Conduct of life--Fiction.

Conduct of life.

Interpersonal relations--Fiction.

Interpersonal relations.

Melbourne (Vic.)--Social conditions--20th century--Fiction.

Melbourne (Vic.).

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Physical Description:

178 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First Catapult edition.

Other Title:

Theory and practice

Place of Publication:

New York : Catapult, 2025.

Summary:

A new novel of startling intelligence from prizewinning Australian author Michelle de Kretser, following a writer looking back on her young adulthood and grappling with what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art. It's 1986, and "beautiful, radical ideas" are in the air. The narrator of Theory & Practice, a young woman originally from Sri Lanka, arrives in Melbourne for graduate school to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In the bohemian neighborhood of St. Kilda she meets artists, activists, students--and Kit. He claims to be in a "deconstructed relationship." They become lovers, and the narrator's feminism comes up against her jealousy. Meanwhile, an entry in Woolf's diary upends what the narrator knows about her literary idol, and throws her own work into disarray. What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is shamed when the truth is told? Michelle de Kretser's new novel offers a spellbinding meditation on the moral complexities that arise in the gap between our values and our lives.

ISBN:

9781646222872

1646222873

OCLC:

1435475436