image of person or book cover 4868382647313550069.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Shame and the Captives single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2013... 2013 Shame and the Captives
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Will keeping the Japanese, Korean and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are?

'In the spirit of The Daughters Of Mars, Tom Keneally's new novel brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events.

'In Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community. Alice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice's view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded.

'But what most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture, entirely perplexing to the inmates' captors. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.' (Publisher's blurb)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Random House , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 2244533659074015150.jpg
      Image courtesy of Random House
      Extent: xii, 378p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 November 2013
      ISBN: 9780857980991
    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Random House Australia , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 4868382647313550069.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 400p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 1st November 2013
      ISBN: 9780857981011 (ebk), 0857981013 (ebk)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sceptre ,
      2014 .
      image of person or book cover 6514228133823418966.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: xii, 377p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 10th April 2014
      ISBN: 9781444781281, 1444781286
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Atria Books ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 6909443494348244089.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: ix, 367p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 24th February 2015
         
      ISBN: 9781476734644, 147673464X
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 606133852756782862.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 400p.
      Note/s:
      • Published February 2024
      ISBN: 9781761341472
Alternative title: 耻辱与俘虏
Transliterated title: Chi ru yu fu lu
Language: Chinese

Other Formats

  • Braille.
  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

The Cowra Breakout : Remembering and Reflecting on Australia’s Biggest Prison Escape 75 Years on 2019 single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 August 2019;

'Today (August 5) marks the 75th anniversary of Australia’s largest prison escape: the Cowra breakout, in New South Wales, during the second world war. In fact, it is one of the largest prison escapes in world history, but unless you are a keen war historian you may have never heard about it.' (Introduction)

Enemies of Honor : Heroes and Prisoners of War in Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Tom Keneally’s Shame and the Captives Fiona Duthie , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 30 no. 1 2016; (p. 159-171)
'The heroism of the Australian soldier abroad is a subject often explored by Australian writers. Representations have fluctuated somewhat from the time of the First World War, but tales of valor and stoic endurance have elicited a potent fascination from this time. Among many examples is Frederic Manning's The Middle Parts of Fortune (1929), throughout which, despite the hardships and privations of the Western Front and the various enticements to accept commissions elsewhere, the protagonist prefers the lot of the everyday soldiers, among whom heroism is "a common thing" (94). The serving men are presented not as types but as individuals, but each is secure in the conviction that "one must not break" (13). The tradition continues in A. B. Facey's memoir of Gallipoli, A Fortunate Life (1981), in which "despite the fear men mostly took everything that was thrown at them" (260) and bonded together in "love and trust" (278), and more recently in Christopher Koch's Highways to a War (1995), which tells of a combat cameraman who joins the struggle against the Khmer Rouge. Mike Langford is athletic and charming, he is preoccupied with "the outcast and the vulnerable" (159), and he saves many lives ultimately at the cost of his own. He is portrayed indisputably as a "hem" (342). Clam Rhoden argues that Australian war literature "diverges from its international counterparts chiefly, but not solely, because most Australian accounts use a classical heroic tradition that others have abandoned for a disillusioned style of narration." Similarly, Robin Gerster notes that Australian writers are "critical of war but almost blindly impressed by warlike achievements" (257). However, there has long been a definitive thread of dissent interwoven into the heroic tradition, in which Martin Boyd's When Blackbirds Sing (1962) is one of the most notable examples. In Boyd's novel, Dominic Langton feels "a common humanity" with the German soldiers he is required to destroy (75). He sees "suicidal futility" where others perceive a glorious defense of civilization (114). Similarly, David Maloufs Fly Away Peter (1982) describes senseless carnage in another country's war. Like Langton, however, Jim Saddler sees the Germans as individuals, as "something more than the enemy" (80).' (Introduction)
A National (Diasporic?) Living Treasure : Thomas Keneally Paul Sharrad , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , November no. 14 2015; (p. 20-27)
Although Thomas Keneally is firmly located as a national figure, his international literary career and his novels’ inspection of colonial exile, Aboriginal alienation, and movements of people throughout history reflect aspects of diasporic experience, while pushing the term itself into wider meaning of the transnational.
‘Shame and the Captives’ and ‘The Evening Chorus’ Gary Krist , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 17 April 2015; (p. 19)

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
Writers' War of Words Deborah Bogle , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 28 February 2014; (p. 39)
All Imprisoned by Cruel Circumstance Peter Pierce , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 26-27 October 2013; (p. 21)

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
Shame and the Captives by Thomas Keneally Carmel Bird , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 1 November 2013;

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
Stealing Tales from History Susan Wyndham , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 November 2013; (p. 19)

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
'Hysteria' Over Asylum Seekers Angers Keneally Patrick Carmody , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 November 2013; (p. 7)

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
War-Time Event Keeps Reader Captive Fran Metcalf , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 23 November 2013; (p. 21)

— Review of Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally , 2013 single work novel
Tom Keneally The Prisoner of His Stories Susan Wyndham , 2013 single work interview
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9 November 2013; (p. 28-29) The Age , 9 November 2013; (p. 24)
Human Face of Breakout 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 7 January 2014; (p. 6-7)
Writers' War of Words Deborah Bogle , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 28 February 2014; (p. 39)
A National (Diasporic?) Living Treasure : Thomas Keneally Paul Sharrad , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , November no. 14 2015; (p. 20-27)
Although Thomas Keneally is firmly located as a national figure, his international literary career and his novels’ inspection of colonial exile, Aboriginal alienation, and movements of people throughout history reflect aspects of diasporic experience, while pushing the term itself into wider meaning of the transnational.
Enemies of Honor : Heroes and Prisoners of War in Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Tom Keneally’s Shame and the Captives Fiona Duthie , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 30 no. 1 2016; (p. 159-171)
'The heroism of the Australian soldier abroad is a subject often explored by Australian writers. Representations have fluctuated somewhat from the time of the First World War, but tales of valor and stoic endurance have elicited a potent fascination from this time. Among many examples is Frederic Manning's The Middle Parts of Fortune (1929), throughout which, despite the hardships and privations of the Western Front and the various enticements to accept commissions elsewhere, the protagonist prefers the lot of the everyday soldiers, among whom heroism is "a common thing" (94). The serving men are presented not as types but as individuals, but each is secure in the conviction that "one must not break" (13). The tradition continues in A. B. Facey's memoir of Gallipoli, A Fortunate Life (1981), in which "despite the fear men mostly took everything that was thrown at them" (260) and bonded together in "love and trust" (278), and more recently in Christopher Koch's Highways to a War (1995), which tells of a combat cameraman who joins the struggle against the Khmer Rouge. Mike Langford is athletic and charming, he is preoccupied with "the outcast and the vulnerable" (159), and he saves many lives ultimately at the cost of his own. He is portrayed indisputably as a "hem" (342). Clam Rhoden argues that Australian war literature "diverges from its international counterparts chiefly, but not solely, because most Australian accounts use a classical heroic tradition that others have abandoned for a disillusioned style of narration." Similarly, Robin Gerster notes that Australian writers are "critical of war but almost blindly impressed by warlike achievements" (257). However, there has long been a definitive thread of dissent interwoven into the heroic tradition, in which Martin Boyd's When Blackbirds Sing (1962) is one of the most notable examples. In Boyd's novel, Dominic Langton feels "a common humanity" with the German soldiers he is required to destroy (75). He sees "suicidal futility" where others perceive a glorious defense of civilization (114). Similarly, David Maloufs Fly Away Peter (1982) describes senseless carnage in another country's war. Like Langton, however, Jim Saddler sees the Germans as individuals, as "something more than the enemy" (80).' (Introduction)
Last amended 5 Aug 2024 11:24:38
X