Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey

by
February 2012, no. 338

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey

Hamish Hamilton, $39.95 hb, 288 pp, 9781926428154

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey

by
February 2012, no. 338

 In his closing address to the 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival, Peter Carey made a plea on behalf of the fading ‘cult’ of serious reading. This prompted a fierce riposte from Bryce Courtenay: ‘There’s no such thing as popular writing versus literary writing. If I’m a popular writer then Peter Carey is an unpopular writer. If I’m a best-selling writer then he’s a worst-selling writer’ (Crikey, 9 June 2010). Courtenay’s full comments were somewhat more nuanced than the ensuing newspaper headlines suggested. He challenged the creators of Australian ‘literary fiction’ to acknowledge how many readers are – that is, aren’t – attracted to their output. But Courtenay’s suggestion that Carey is ‘unpopular’ is only true if we compare Carey to an author such as Matthew Reilly (using Courtenay’s example), or to Courtenay himself. While I am not privy to Carey’s global sales figures, I would wager that a hefty majority of Australian novelists would envy his readership.

Patrick Allington reviews 'The Chemistry of Tears' by Peter Carey

The Chemistry of Tears

by Peter Carey

Hamish Hamilton, $39.95 hb, 288 pp, 9781926428154

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.