Some Doves and Pythons

{{infobox book |

| name = Some Doves and Pythons

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = File:SomeDovesAndPythons.jpg

| caption = First US edition

| author = Sumner Locke Elliott

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| series =

| genre =

| publisher = Harper & Row (US)

| release_date = 1966

| english_release_date =

| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)

| pages = 249

| isbn =

| preceded_by =

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}}

Some Doves and Pythons is a 1966 novel by Sumner Locke Elliott.{{cite web|title= Some Doves and Pythons by Sumner Locke Elliott|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/837180 |access-date= 16 September 2024}}

It was his second novel following Careful He Might Hear You. Elliott later said "I wanted it to be very different and: (a) I wanted it to have an American setting and (b) I wanted totally

different characters."{{Citation

| title=PS: WE HEAR YOU Sumner Locke Elliott: An interview in New York

| journal=The Bulletin

| series=John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues).

| date=27 December 1983

| location=Sydney, N.S.W

| publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1605128490

| id=nla.obj-1605128490

| access-date=7 October 2024

| via=Trove

}}

Critical reception

Martin Levin in The New York Times noted: "There are far more snakes than pigeons in Sumner Locke Elliott's SOME DOVES AND PYTHONS. Which is only natural, since the case of Mr. Elliott's taut tour de force consists of a theatrical talent agent and some of her clients, gathered for a country weekend of fun and Big Deals".{{cite web|title="Reader's Teport" |publisher= The New York Times, 27 february 1966|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/117085899|access-date= 16 September 2024|id= {{ProQuest|117085899}}}}

In The Age Neil Jillett commented: "The merits of the new novel are those of a cynical and accurate reporter rather than of an imaginative artist. Mr. Elliott has a fastidious eyes for lapses of dress, amnners and interior decoration, a discerning ear for the nuances of drunken conversation and a talent for acid analysis. There is some tentaive effort to explore, though minor characters, the general theme of alienation, but the novel remains sunstantially the portrait of one woman. And as such it deserves the applause it is bound to receive."{{cite web|title="Portrait of a lady" |publisher= The Age, 12 November 1966, p24|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2520667947|access-date= 16 September 2024|id= {{ProQuest|2520667947}}}}

Notes

Dedication: For Annie Laurie, Maurice and Lucile and others who protect and promote

References

Category:1966 Australian novels

Category:Harper & Row books

Category:Works by Sumner Locke Elliott