The Islands of Randolph Stow single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 The Islands of Randolph Stow
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Randolph Stow (1935-2010) prefaced his novel To the Islands with this quotation [see epigraph below] drawn from the writings of his great great uncle. Coming from an island that is also a continent, where 'arguably, 'island-ness' was and still is at the core of the Australian worldview' (Davies and Neuenfeldt, 2004: 137), the notion of 'island', sometimes imaginary, sometimes having a geographical precision, is manifest in Stow's writings in many different ways. An aura of mystery pervades all of his novels, the sea is often present, and there are recurring themes of isolation and boundedness.' (Author's introduction)

Notes

  • Epigraph: Still islands, islands, islands. After leaving Cape Bougainville we passed at least 500, of every shape, size, and appearance...Infinitely varied as these islands are - wild and picturesque, grand sometimes almost to sublimity - there is about them all an air of dreariness and gloom. No sign of life appears on their surface; scarcely even a sea bird hovers on their shores. They seem abandoned by Nature to complete and everlasting desolation.

    -Jefferson Stow: Voyage of the Forlorn Hope, 1865.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Southerly Islands and Archipelagos vol. 72 no. 3 2012 5997377 2012 periodical issue 2012 pg. 103-118
Last amended 28 Jan 2015 05:09:34
103-118 The Islands of Randolph Stowsmall AustLit logo Southerly
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