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Bliss (novel)
''Bliss'' is the first novel by Australian writer Peter Carey. Published in 1981, the book won that year's Miles Franklin Award. Plot Written as a dark, comic fable, the story concerns an advertising executive, Harry Joy, who briefly 'dies' of a heart attack. On being resuscitated, he realizes that the life he has previously drifted amiably through is in fact Hell – literally so to Harry. His wife is unfaithful, while his son is selling drugs, and his daughter is a communist selling herself to buy them. In one of the novel's more shocking scenes, glimpsed through a window, incest occurs. Redemption comes in the form of Honey Barbara – a pantheist, healer and prostitute. In the words of the book's blurb "Honey is to Harry as Isis is to Osiris. Together they conquer Hell and retire to the forest where their children inherit the legend of paradise regained." But Harry must die for a second time to be truly saved. Adaptations In 1985 ''Bliss'' was adapted into a film of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Carey (novelist)
Peter Philip Carey AO (born 7 May 1943) is an Australian novelist. Carey has won the Miles Franklin Award three times and is frequently named as Australia's next contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Carey is one of only five writers to have won the Booker Prize twice—the others being J. G. Farrell, J. M. Coetzee, Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood. Carey won his first Booker Prize in 1988 for ''Oscar and Lucinda'', and won for the second time in 2001 with ''True History of the Kelly Gang''. In May 2008 he was nominated for the Best of the Booker Prize. In addition to writing fiction, he collaborated on the screenplay of the film ''Until the End of the World'' with Wim Wenders and is executive director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York. Early life and career: 1943–1970 Peter Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, in 1943. His parents ran a General Motors dealership, Carey Motors. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption, or lineage. It is strictly forbidden and considered immoral in most societies, and can lead to an increased risk of genetic disorders in children. The incest taboo is one of the most widespread of all cultural taboos, both in present and in past societies. Most modern societies have laws regarding incest or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages. In societies where it is illegal, consensual adult incest is seen by some as a victimless crime. Some cultures extend the incest taboo to relatives with no consanguinity such as milk-siblings, step-siblings, and adoptive siblings, albeit sometimes with less intensity. Third-degree relatives (such as half-aunt, half-nephew, first cousin) on average have 12.5% common genetic heri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth (born 4 November 1935), is an English conductor, composer and trumpeter. Biography Howarth was born at Cannock, Staffordshire. He was educated in the 1950s at Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music (the predecessor of the Royal Northern College of Music), where his fellow students included the composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies and the pianist John Ogdon. Together they formed New Music Manchester, a group dedicated to the performance of new music. He has worked with all leading British orchestras, as well as many orchestras worldwide. He played the opening bars of Tippett's ''King Priam'' at its Coventry premiere in 1962, (conducting the whole work years later for English National Opera). He has conducted many operas, and premiered György Ligeti's ''Le Grand Macabre'' at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1978 and four operas by Harrison Birtwistle: ''The Mask of Orpheus'' at English National Op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Armfield
Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armfield. He was brought up in the suburb of Concord, adjacent to Exile Bay. He was educated at the Homebush Boys High School where, in 1972, he was the Vice-Captain. In that year, Armfield directed the school's production of Milne's "Toad of Toad Hall" which garnered him the award of "Best Director" at the NSW High Schools Drama Festival. When asked in 2019: “Who or what was your biggest influence?” Armfield said; “Lindsay Daines at Homebush State High School, who encouraged my theatrical aspirations.” He then went on to study at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1977, and became Co-Artistic Director of the Nimrod Theatre Company in 1979. He joined South Australia's Lighthouse Theatre before returning to Sydney in 1985, where h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation. The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, between Sydney Cove and Far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bliss (opera)
''Bliss'' is an opera in three acts by Brett Dean to a libretto by Amanda Holden. The libretto is based on Peter Carey's novel ''Bliss'', which had earlier been made into the 1985 film ''Bliss''. The opera premiered at the Sydney Opera House on 12 March 2010 and has subsequently been performed in the United Kingdom and Germany."True history of the Bliss gang" by Matthew Westwood, '''', 6 March 2010 A performance of the work lasts for about two hours and forty minutes. Development The development of this work suffered several setbacks over the years. |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brett Dean
Brett Dean (born 23 October 1961) is an Australian composer, violist and conductor. Biography Brett Dean was born, raised and educated in Brisbane. He started learning violin at the age of eight, and later studied viola with Elizabeth Morgan and John Curro at the Queensland Conservatorium, where he graduated in 1982 with the Conservatorium Medal for the highest achieving Student of the Year. In 1981 he was a prize winner in the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards. From 1985 to 1999, Dean was a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2000, he decided to pursue a career as a freelance artist and returned to Australia, where his many appointments have included curating classical music programs with the Sydney Festival (2005) and the Melbourne Festival (2009). As a composer and musician, he is a regularly invited guest to many professional concert stages around the world. He is the composer-in-residence in the 2016/17 season for the National Symphony Orchestra ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the Arts Centre Melbourne, where it is accompanied by Orchestra Victoria. In 2004, the company gave 226 performances in its subscription seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, attended by more than 294,000 people. It is funded by government grants, corporate sponsorship, private philanthropy, and ticket sales. The proportion of its revenue from ticket sales is considerably higher than that of most companies, approximately 75 per cent. The company is perhaps best known internationally for its association with Dame Joan Sutherland, for Baz Luhrmann's production of Puccini's ''La bohème'' in the early 1990s and more recently, for, apart from performances inside the opera house, large scale outdoor performances on Sydney Harbour. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Otto
Barry Otto (born 1941) is an Australian actor, primarily of Australian cinema, cinema, and an amateur artist. Early life Barry Otto was born in Brisbane in 1941, the son of a butcher. He trained as an artist but switched to acting. Career Otto received an AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor in ''Strictly Ballroom'' and was nominated for ''Bliss (1985 film), Bliss'', ''Cosi (film), Cosi'' and ''The More Things Change... (film), The More Things Change...''. Otto portrayed Administrator Allsop in Australia (2008 film), ''Australia'' in 2008. He also had roles in ''The Dressmaker (2015 film), The Dressmaker'', ''Kiss or Kill (1997 film), Kiss or Kill'', ''Dead Letter Office (film), Dead Letter Office'', ''The Visitor (2002 film), The Visitor'', ''The Great Gatsby (2013 film), The Great Gatsby'', ''Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'', ''Love's Brother'' (see Filmography). In 2015 Otto voiced the role of Mayor Wilberforce Cranklepot, a goanna, in ''Blinky Bill the Movi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Lawrence (film Director)
Ray Lawrence (born 1948) is an Australian film director, best known for his 2001 film ''Lantana''. Overview All his films are made in Australia with predominantly Australian casts. He has made only three films in nearly four decades, yet they have been some of the most critically acclaimed works in Australian cinema during that time. He is famous for his one-take shoots and use of natural light. He makes commercials in between films. Early life Lawrence was born in London, England, the son of a painter who painted the royal coaches at Buckingham Palace, and later spray painted London buses for double the salary. He moved to Australia with his family in 1958 at age 11 and they settled in Victor Harbor, South Australia after spending three years in a migrant hostel in Gawler. When he left school he moved to Sydney and began working in advertising. He worked for a number of years in London producing commercials. Then he returned home, established Window Productions with Glen Thoma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bliss (1985 Film)
''Bliss'' is a 1985 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Ray Lawrence, and co-written by Lawrence and Peter Carey, based on Carey's 1981 novel of the same name. It stars Barry Otto, Lynette Curran and Helen Jones. After a rocky start – 400 of the 2000-strong audience walked out during its first screening at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival – the film went on to receive multiple awards at the AFI awards. Plot summary Harry Joy, an advertising executive in an unnamed Australian city who is known for his ability to tell stories, has a terrifying near-death experience after suffering a massive heart attack, brought on by his dissolute lifestyle. Upon recovering, he believes himself to be either in a hellish version of the world he knew, or with his eyes opened to an altogether different view of that world. He eventually discovers that his wife is unfaithful, his dissolute daughter trades sex for hard drugs with his deviant son, and his latest client is a carcinogenic pollut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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