'The accidental death of MP Norman Cole precipitates a hung parliament allowing a core of extreme right-wing politicians to seize power. Telford, a high ranking but unworldly public servant is approached by Cole's wife who believes her husband was murdered and asks him to investigate on her behalf. The reward for this, he hopes, will be her love. Despite the bizarre and threatening nature of his investigations, he remains convinced that the "scribbled note" about the meeting with "N" holds the key to what he seeks.' (Publisher's blurb)
Dedication:
To Doug Muecke
and to the memory of
Ben Frater (1979-2007), Australian poet
'John A. Scott’s N belongs, at least on a superficial reading, to the genre of alternative histories. The death of an independent, Norman Cole, in 1942 leads to the replacement of the Curtin government by one lead by Warren Mahony. The Japanese invade, the American forces, only newly arrived, depart and the Australian government retreats southward, making Melbourne the centre of “free” Australia and forming a new base for government at Mt Macedon. But readers expecting a conventional, realistic exploration of this new “reality-possibility”, will quickly register surprise since N is also a compendium of different styles and, more importantly, a compendium of imaginative, non-realistic scenarios.' (Introduction)
'Though previous scholarship into alternate history narratives has been conducted, to date a set of "poetics" that defines this genre has not yet been developed (Chapman and Yoke 21). Indeed, there is a significant gap in knowledge regarding the alternate history genre; a collection of papers appearing in Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction, edited by Edgar L. Chapman and Carl B. Yoke, identify this gap: "For while numerous alternate history tales have now been written, … no comprehensive poetics of this genre … has been developed" (21). This article seeks to address part of this gap by first coining a new term for the genre (Uchronic fiction) and by using two examples of alternate history narratives unique and particular to Australia (John Hooker's The Bush Soldiers and John A. Scott's N) to highlight some of the hitherto undefined "poetics" for this genre as they appear in these two examples of Uchronic fiction. These two novels also bring to the fore serious issues that are relevant to the discussion regarding the political agenda on the part of authors John Hooker and John A. Scott, both of whom do not shy away from addressing white Australia's historically poor treatment of Aboriginal people or from Australia's historical ambivalence and hostility toward nonwhite immigrants and people from Asia.' (Introduction)
'John A. Scott’s N belongs, at least on a superficial reading, to the genre of alternative histories. The death of an independent, Norman Cole, in 1942 leads to the replacement of the Curtin government by one lead by Warren Mahony. The Japanese invade, the American forces, only newly arrived, depart and the Australian government retreats southward, making Melbourne the centre of “free” Australia and forming a new base for government at Mt Macedon. But readers expecting a conventional, realistic exploration of this new “reality-possibility”, will quickly register surprise since N is also a compendium of different styles and, more importantly, a compendium of imaginative, non-realistic scenarios.' (Introduction)
'Though previous scholarship into alternate history narratives has been conducted, to date a set of "poetics" that defines this genre has not yet been developed (Chapman and Yoke 21). Indeed, there is a significant gap in knowledge regarding the alternate history genre; a collection of papers appearing in Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction, edited by Edgar L. Chapman and Carl B. Yoke, identify this gap: "For while numerous alternate history tales have now been written, … no comprehensive poetics of this genre … has been developed" (21). This article seeks to address part of this gap by first coining a new term for the genre (Uchronic fiction) and by using two examples of alternate history narratives unique and particular to Australia (John Hooker's The Bush Soldiers and John A. Scott's N) to highlight some of the hitherto undefined "poetics" for this genre as they appear in these two examples of Uchronic fiction. These two novels also bring to the fore serious issues that are relevant to the discussion regarding the political agenda on the part of authors John Hooker and John A. Scott, both of whom do not shy away from addressing white Australia's historically poor treatment of Aboriginal people or from Australia's historical ambivalence and hostility toward nonwhite immigrants and people from Asia.' (Introduction)
