‘The Biggest Thing in Years’: Max O’Rell’s Lecture Tour in Australasia

Author: JANA VERHOEVEN
The French Australian Review No 44 (Jun 2008): 3-24
https://doi.org/10.62586/MJWA1932

This article deals with the author Max O’Rell’s lecturing tour in Australia and New Zealand in the 1890s. O’Rell, who was French and whose true name was Paul Blouet, used humour to portray and criticise the major Western nations and their idiosyncrasies. The article examines O’Rell’s role as a major figure of the cross-cultural debate over manners and morals. It also examines the significance of lecturing as a form of mass entertainment.

Keywords: lecture tours, cultural stereotyping, Mark Twain, manners and morals, impressions of Australia