Monkey Grip (novel)

rdf:langString Monkey Grip (novel)

rdf:langString Monkey Grip

rdf:langString Monkey Grip

rdf:langString right

rdf:langString #c6dbf7

rdf:langString First edition

rdf:langString PR9619.3.G3 M6 1984

rdf:langString Australia

rdf:langString English

rdf:langString Print

rdf:langString Another way of thinking about the way they all behaved, after all, might be to strike out 'childlike innocence' and call it narcissistic oblivion.

rdf:langString Shouldn't a real writer be writing about something other than herself and her immediate circle? I've been haunted by this question since 1977 when a reviewer of Monkey Grip asked irritably what the fuss was about: as far as he could see, all I'd done was publish my diaries. I went round for years after that in a lather of defensiveness: "It's a novel, thank you very much". But I'm too old to bother with that crap any more. I might as well come clean. I did publish my diary. That's exactly what I did. I left out what I thought were the boring bits, wrote bridging passages, and changed all the names.

rdf:langString Charlotte Wood in a foreword to the 2018 edition

rdf:langString Garner, on the critical reaction to the diaristic element to the novel

rdf:langString Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. It initially received a mixed critical reception, but has now become accepted as a classic of modern Australian literature. The novel deals with the life of single-mother Nora, as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a flaky heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in share houses in Melbourne during the late 1970s. A film based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip, was released in 1982. In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, the book was retrospectively categorized as one of the first examples of this genre. The novel, published at the height of a burgeoning counterculture movement and bohemia scene in Melbourne, achieved some degree of notoriety for its astute, uncompromising depiction of heroin addiction, sexuality, relationships and love. It became recognised as being one of Australia's "first contemporary novels", and long since its initial publication, has come to be regarded as being the "voice of a generation". Furthermore, it helped establish the career of Helen Garner, who is now one of the most well-known writers in Australia. Garner later admitted that there was an autobiographical element to the novel, with much of its plot being diaristic and based on her own experiences. Despite dividing critics after its publication in 1977, the book sold very well. It was one of the first majorly successful works released by Melbourne publishing house McPhee Gribble. In 2018, Monkey Grip was selected by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as number 47 of a list of "100 stories that shaped the world" – the only Australian novel on the list.