Keneally’s Aboriginal Characters single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Keneally’s Aboriginal Characters
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In the huge corpus of Keneally’s works, there is a group of impressive Aboriginal characters; some are minor ones and others are protagonists. In particular, three novels are noted for their outstanding and substantial portrayal of Aborigines, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith in 1972, The Playmaker in 1987, and Flying Hero Class in 1991. Interestingly, the three stories take place respectively in three important stages of Australian history, one in colonial times in 1789, one in 1901, and one shortly before the dawn of the new millennium. With his sustaining interest in this subject, Keneally tries to present a panoramic view of Aboriginal images with a historical vision. ' (134)

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  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction Xiaojin Zhou , Qindao : China Ocean University Press , 2009 Z1741824 2009 multi chapter work criticism

    'Born into an Irish Catholic family in Sydney, Thomas Keneally published his first novel, The Place at Whitton, in 1964, four years after he abandoned his study for priesthood. The success of that gothic horror set in a seminary triggered a successful writing career of over forty years, in which he produced 25 novels, while making frequent and fruitful incursions into the world of nonfiction. Today Keneally is Australia’s best-known writer and Australia’s living treasure. Although Spielberg’s Schindler’s List became a media event and a household word in the 1990s, it hardly qualified Keneally as an overnight sensation. By that time, Keneally was already a widely acclaimed writer in Britain and America, truly “international”, as the Australians would like to put it, since he had publishers on both sides of the Atlantic and had won the 1982 Booker Prize. Despite discernible changes in his earlier and later works, it’s almost impossible, even as a critical expediency, to divide Keneally’s writing career into clearly marked stages. Writing on both “Australian” and “international” themes, and constantly shifting between past and present, Keneally failed to follow the normal path of arrival, growth and maturity, much to the disappointment of some Australian critics, who eagerly delighted in anticipating the destination of his literary journey...' (Author's introduction)

    Qindao : China Ocean University Press , 2009
    pg. 134-142
Last amended 18 Sep 2015 07:28:10
134-142 Keneally’s Aboriginal Characterssmall AustLit logo
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