The Poison of Polygamy stage adaptation at Sydney Theatre Company (8 June to 15 July)

Once you’ve seen the adaptation, you’ll want to learn what makes this book an Australian literary standout.

Originally published in 1910, The Poison of Polygamy was Australia’s first ever novel by a Chinese Australian author and the first novel of the Chinese Australian experience.

The story, which is set in Australia and China, concerns the history of writer Wong Shee Ping’s father’s generation, following the historical progress of Chinese Australians from goldmining to market gardening and other enterprises, and their gravitation from the countryside to the big cities.

Published as a bilingual parallel edition, Finch’s English translation runs alongside the original Chinese characters—making the book a brilliant tool for people learning to read Chinese characters.

It also includes extensive footnotes describing the historical, literary and linguistic context of the lives of Chinese Australians at the turn of the century.

This book is a rollercoaster ride of quintessentially Australian content—from blackmail and extramarital liaisons to a thylacine attack–and it shines a light our ‘rich, integral and largely overlooked Chinese Australian history’—Ely Finch.

sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/the-poison-of-polygamy

Category: Classifieds