ILLYWHACKER

by Carey, Peter

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Description

New York. 1985. Harper & Row. 1st American Edition. Very Good In Dustjacket. Inscribed By The Author. pages: 600 pages. Cover: Jacket painting by Robert Crawford. keywords: Literature Australia . ISBN: 006015425x. August 1985. 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 - especially 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. keywords: Literature Australia inventory # 15803. ISBN: 006015425x.

Book summary

The life and loves of Herbert Badgery, a 139-year-old car salesman and snake-fancier, who is torn between the desire to be a good man and his need to attract people by means of his outrageous lies. The life story he tells includes bush pilots, fan dancers, Communists, schoolteachers, and exotic bird dealers.