Bliss (novel)

1981 novel by Peter Carey

This article is about the Peter Carey novel. For other novels, see Bliss.

Bliss

First edition (Australia)

Author| Peter Carey
Language| English
Publisher| UQP (Australia)
Faber and Faber (UK)
Harper & Row (US)

Publication date

| 1981
Publication place| Australia
Media type| Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages| 336 (first edition, hardback)
ISBN| 0-571-11769-4 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC| 8075118
Followed by| Illywhacker

Bliss is the first novel by Australian writer Peter Carey.[1] Published in 1981, the book won that year's Miles Franklin Award.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

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

[edit]

In 1985 Bliss was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Ray Lawrence and starring Barry Otto.[3]

Commissioned by Opera Australia, Brett Dean and Amanda Holden wrote an opera of the same name, which premiered in March 2010 at the Sydney Opera House, directed by Neil Armfield, conducted by Elgar Howarth, and featuring Peter Coleman-Wright as Harry Joy.

Tom Wright adapted in 2018 a stage version for the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, and the Belvoir, Sydney.[4]

Australian singer-songwriter James Gabriel Keogh took his stage name Vance Joy from Harry Joy's grandfather in this novel.[5]

## Awards

[edit]

* Miles Franklin Award, 1981[2]
* New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Fiction, 1982[6]
* National Book Council Award for Australian Literature, 1982[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Bliss by Peter Carey". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
2. ^ a b ""Miles Franklin prize"". The Canberra Times, 27 May 1982, p7. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
3. ^ "Bliss (1985)". IDMB. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
4. ^ "Review: Bliss at Malthouse Theatre" by Jess Zintschenko, performing.artshub.com.au, 11 May 2018
5. ^ "Vance Joy Chose His Stage Name to 'Conjure Up a Cool Little World' for Himself", ABC News Radio, 26 March 2015
6. ^ "Austlit — Christina Stead Prize 1982". Austlit. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
7. ^ Prizes, petercareybooks.com

## See also

[edit]

* 1981 in Australian literature
* Bliss, Libraries Australia authorities record
* Mark Roberts review of Bliss from Going Down Swinging magazine, issue 5, Spring 1982

* v
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Works by Peter Carey

Novels|

* Bliss (1981)
* Illywhacker (1985)
* Oscar and Lucinda (1988)
* The Tax Inspector (1991)
* The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994)
* Jack Maggs (1997)
* True History of the Kelly Gang (2000)
* My Life as a Fake (2003)
* Theft: A Love Story (2006)
* His Illegal Self (2008)
* Parrot and Olivier in America (2010)
* The Chemistry of Tears (2012)
* Amnesia (2014)
* A Long Way From Home (2017)

Short story collections|

* The Fat Man in History (1974)
* War Crimes (1979)
* The Fat Man in History and Other Stories (1980)
* Exotic Pleasures (1990)
* Collected Stories (1994)

Juvenile fiction|

* The Big Bazoohley (1995)

Non-fiction|

* A Letter to Our Son (1994)
* 30 Days in Sydney (2001)
* Letter from New York (2001)
* Wrong about Japan (2004)

Screenplays|

* Bliss (1985)
* Until the End of the World (1991)

* v
* t
* e

Miles Franklin Award

1957–1959|

* Voss by Patrick White (1957)
* To the Islands by Randolph Stow (1958)
* The Big Fellow by Vance Palmer (1959)

1960–1969|

* The Irishman by Elizabeth O'Conner (1960)
* Riders in the Chariot by Patrick White (1961)
* The Well Dressed Explorer by Thea Astley (1962)
* The Cupboard Under the Stairs by George Turner (1962)
* Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott (1963)
* My Brother Jack by George Johnston (1964)
* The Slow Natives by Thea Astley (1965)
* Trap by Peter Mathers (1966)
* Bring Larks and Heroes by Thomas Keneally (1967)
* Three Cheers for the Paraclete by Thomas Keneally (1968)
* Clean Straw for Nothing by George Johnston (1969)

1970–1979|

* A Horse of Air by Dal Stivens (1970)
* The Unknown Industrial Prisoner by David Ireland (1971)
* The Acolyte by Thea Astley (1972)
* No award (1973)
* The Mango Tree by Ronald McKie (1974)
* Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert (1976)
* The Glass Canoe by David Ireland (1977)
* Swords and Crowns and Rings by Ruth Park (1978)
* A Woman of the Future by David Ireland (1979)

1980–1989|

* The Impersonators by Jessica Anderson (1980)
* Bliss by Peter Carey (1981)
* Just Relations by Rodney Hall (1982)
* No award (1983)
* Shallows by Tim Winton (1984)
* The Doubleman by Christopher Koch (1985)
* The Well by Elizabeth Jolley (1986)
* Dancing on Coral by Glenda Adams (1987)
* No award (1988)
* Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1989)

1990–1999|

* Oceana Fine by Tom Flood (1990)
* The Great World by David Malouf (1991)
* Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (1992)
* The Ancestor Game by Alex Miller (1993)
* The Grisly Wife by Rodney Hall (1994)
* The Hand That Signed the Paper by Helen Darville (1995)
* Highways to a War by Christopher Koch (1996)
* The Glade Within the Grove by David Foster (1997)
* Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (1998)
* Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (1999)

2000–2009|

* Drylands by Thea Astley (2000)
* Benang by Kim Scott (2000)
* Dark Palace by Frank Moorhouse (2001)
* Dirt Music by Tim Winton (2002)
* Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller (2003)
* The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (2004)
* The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (2005)
* The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald (2006)
* Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (2007)
* The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll (2008)
* Breath by Tim Winton (2009)

2010–2019|

* Truth by Peter Temple (2010)
* That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (2011)
* All That I Am by Anna Funder (2012)
* Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (2013)
* All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld (2014)
* The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna (2015)
* Black Rock White City by A. S. Patrić (2016)
* Extinctions by Josephine Wilson (2017)
* The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser (2018)
* Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (2019)

2020–present|

* The Yield by Tara June Winch (2020)
* The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey (2021)
* Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down (2022)
* Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran (2023)
* Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (2024)

* v
* t
* e

New South Wales Premier's Prize for Fiction

1979-1989|

* An Imaginary Life by David Malouf (1979)
* War Crimes by Peter Carey (1980)
* The Impersonators by Jessica Anderson (1981)
* Bliss by Peter Carey (1982)
* The Cure by Peter Kocan (1983)
* Milk by Beverley Farmer (1984)
* Milk and Honey by Elizabeth Jolley (1985)
* Postcards from Surfers by Helen Garner (1986)
* Dancing on Coral by Glenda Adams (1987)
* Final Things by John Sligo (1988)
* Broken Words by Helen Hodgman (1989)

1990-1999|

* Reaching Tin River by Thea Astley (1990)
* JF Was Here by Nigel Krauth (1991)
* The Death of Napoleon by Simon Leys (1992)
* Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (1993)
* Seasonal Adjustments by Adib Khan (1994)
* Just Like That by Lily Brett (1995)
* Leaning Towards Infinity by Sue Woolfe (1996)
* The Drowner by Robert Drewe (1997)
* No award (1998)
* Mr. Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald (1999)

2000-2009|

* The Salt of Broken Tears by Michael Meehan (2000)
* Conditions of Faith by Alex Miller (2001)
* Dirt Music by Tim Winton (2002)
* Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings (2003)
* Shanghai Dancing by Brian Castro (2004)
* The Turning by Tim Winton (2005)
* The Secret River by Kate Grenville (2006)
* Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey (2007)
* The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser (2008)
* The Good Parents by Joan London (2009)

2010-2019|

* Summertime by J. M. Coetzee (2010)
* Lovesong by Alex Miller (2011)
* That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (2012)
* Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (2013)
* Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (2014)
* The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw (2015)
* Locust Girl: A Lovesong by Merlinda Bobis (2016)
* The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose (2017)
* The Book of Dirt by Bram Presser (2018)
* The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser (2019)

2020–present|

* The Yield by Tara June Winch (2020)
* A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (2021)
* Dark as Last Night by Tony Birch (2022)
* Women I Know by Katerina Gibson (2023)
* The Sitter by Angela O'Keeffe (2024)
* Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (2025)

Authority control databases |

* VIAF

|

*[OCLC]: Online Computer Library Center number
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