ENGLISH

Illywhacker

By Peter Carey

Book information

Publisher
Vintage
Year
1996
ISBN
0679767908, 9780679767909
LCC
PR9619.3.C36 I45 1996
Open Library ID
OL806819M
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
2 MB (2432855 bytes)
Edition
1St Edition
Pages
608\0
Orientation
no
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-08-31 04:54:40

Description

In Australian slang, an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the 139-year-old narrator of Peter Carey's uproarious novel, may be the king of them all. Vagabond and charlatan, aviator and car salesman, seducer and patriarch, Badgery is a walking embodiment of the Australian national character—espcially of its proclivity for tall stories and barefaced lies.As Carey follows this charming scoundrel across a continent and a century, he creates a crazy quilt of outlandish encounters, with characters that include a genteel dowager who fends off madness with an electric belt and a ravishing young girl with a dangerous fondness for rooftop trysts. Boldly inventive, irresistibly odd, Illywhacker is further proof that Peter Carey is one of the most enchanting writers at work in any hemisphere.

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