The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Carey, Peter
1943–, Australian novelist, b. near Melbourne. Carey’s combination of science fiction and fantasy motifs with a realistic style, displayed in such short-story volumes as The Fat Man in History (1974), War Crimes (1979), and Collected Stories (1995), has invited comparison with such modern masters as Borges and Grass. In longer works of fiction, such as Bliss (1981, his first novel), Illywhacker (1985), and other books, Carey confronts the realities and myths of Australian history and society. Two later novels of Australia, the Victorian-style Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and The True History of the Kelly Gang (2001), a legandary outlaw’s supposed memoir, won Booker Prizes. Carey’s other novels include The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994); Jack Maggs (1997); My Life as a Fake (2003), a complex and ironic treatment of literary life; and Theft: A Love Story (2006), which takes a similar approach to painting and the art market. Carey, who moved to New York in 1991 and has taught writing at New York Univ. and Barnard College, has also written screenplays, a children’s book (1995), and 30 Days in Sydney (2001), a portrait of his one-time hometown.
