Peter Carey

Bruce Woodcock (University of Hull)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 9.1.1: Australian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Susan Kossew (Monash University)

Dates

Born 7 May 1943
Activity 1974-ongoing

Places

Born in Australia
Active in Australia

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Carey's Works

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Peter Carey acknowledges that he has always been fascinated by the “monsters within us”, and his writing explores psychological and social monsters in ways which are unnervingly entertaining. Carey has a gift for riveting narrative, startling concepts, quirky characters and laugh-out-loud comedy. His fiction is both disturbing and entrancing, having genuine popular appeal while making few concessions to the reader's peace of mind.

Peter Philip Carey was born in 1943 in the small town of Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia, where his father ran Carey Motors, a local garage and car dealership which became a prosperous empire after the depression. This setting forms a background to a number of his fictions including the short story “American Dreams” and the novels Illywhacker and The

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1967 words

Citation: Woodcock, Bruce. "Peter Carey". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=738, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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