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form y separately published work icon The Fire on the Snow single work   radio play  
  • Author:agent Douglas Stewart http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/stewart-douglas
Issue Details: First known date: 1941... 1941 The Fire on the Snow
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Notes

  • Author's note: The characters of the play are the men of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910, who made the final dash to the Pole: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, C.V.O., R.N., leader of the exxpedition; Edward Adrian Wilson, B.A., M.B., chief of the scientific staff; Captain Lawrence E.G. Oates of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons; Lieutenant Henry R. Bowers, R.I.M., Petty Officer Edward Evans, R.N.

    Sources of the play were Scott's diary and Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World. D.A.S.

Production Details

  • The Fire in the Snow, a verse drama based on Scott's 1911-1912 Antarctic expedition was first produced 5 June 1941 on ABC radio.

    Broadcast on ABC Radio National on Sunday 2 January 2011 as part of the Playing the 20th Century series.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1941
Notes:
Typescripts of German and Icelandic translations held at ML.
      ca. 1941 .
      Alternative title: The Fire on the Snow : A Radio Play
      Extent: 35 leavesp.
      Description: Typescript (photocopy).
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • Notes from the preface to a printed edition, on the title page.

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: H1677

      Holdings

      Held at: Flinders University of South Australia
  • Appears in:
    form y separately published work icon The Fire on the Snow and The Golden Lover : Two Plays for Radio Douglas Stewart , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1944 Z858759 1944 selected work radio play humour Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1944 pg. 1-42
    • c
      Australia,
      c
      :
      R.A.A.F. Educational Services ,
      1945 .
      Alternative title: The 'Fire on the Snow' : A Verse-Play for Radio, Based on Scott's Expedition to the South Pole
      Extent: 52 leavesp.
      Edition info: Special war time edition.
      Description: Reproduced typescript.
      Note/s:
      • Reproduced solely for use by Service personnel.
      • Reproduced typescript. '228229-6378/45.'
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Five Radio Plays A. A. Phillips (editor), Melbourne : Longmans, Green , 1949 Z816686 1949 anthology drama Melbourne : Longmans, Green , 1949 pg. 176-214
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson , 1954 .
      Printed by Halstead Press
      Extent: xiv, 45p.p.
      Edition info: New edition.
      Reprinted: 1955 , 1957 , 1959 , 1961 , 1962 , 1963
      Note/s:
      • Numerous reprints between 1954 and 1980.
      • Author's Foreword: A radio play is not essentially different from any other kind of play....it is, in its simplest terms, a struggle: usually of man against man; in The Fire on the Snow essentially of man against snow, the spirit of man against snow, the spirit of man against all that conspires to defeat him....I use the Narrator to describe Scott and his men in the Antactic, and just as any radio station uses a commentator to describe the races or a test match.... Douglas Stewart. (vii-x).
      • Dedication: To Frank D. Clewlow and Leslie Rees
      • Appendix by Leslie Rees. 1. 'An Appreciation' (By courtesy of the A.B.C. Weekly) Leslie Rees, Federal Play Editor of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, writing in the A.B.C. Weekly on 7th June 1941, introduced the first broadcast of The Fire on the Snow with the following article.(pp.39-42). 2. 'The Radio Play as a Form'. These notes are for the most part drawn from material published in the volume Modern Short Plays. (pp.43-45).
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Four Plays Douglas Stewart , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1958 Z389675 1958 selected work drama Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1958 pg. 1-30
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Plays for Radio and Television Nigel Samuel (editor), London : Longman , 1959 Z817790 1959 anthology drama London : Longman , 1959
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson , 1964 .
      Extent: xi, 57p.p.
      Edition info: 1st illustrated ed.
      Description: illus. (b & w)
      Reprinted: 1965 Twice , 1966 , 1967 , 1970 Twice
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: To Frank D. Clewlow and Leslie Rees
      ISBN: 0207120269

Other Formats

  • Also braille. Also sound recording. Sound recordings available include a recording of the Old Tote Theatre Co. production by Robin Lovejoy, c 1973

Works about this Work

'A Place of Ideals in Conflict' : Images of Antarctica in Australian Literature Elizabeth Leane , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Littoral Zone : Australian Contexts and Their Writers 2007; (p. 261-290)
This chapter examines Australian literature (poetry, fiction, and plays) dealing with Antarctica, focussing on each text's engagement with the Antarctic environment and the debates surrounding it. Beginning with two late nineteenth-century Antarctic utopias, the survey moves through the work of well-known writers such as Douglas Stewart and Thomas Keneally in the mid-century to more recent writing by Dorothy Porter, Les Murray, Caroline Caddy, and others. Less familiar material, such as poetry by Antarctic expeditioners themselves, is also discussed. The essay traces a rough progression in Australian representation of the far southern environment, from an initial utopian approach to an emphasis on its stark, 'timeless' icescape as a minimalist backdrop for human dramas to an appreciation of its changeability, complexity and fragility. (from The Littoral Zone)
Cold Comfort Murray Bramwell , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , December no. 159 1996; (p. 33-34)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Adrift in Arctic Waste Peter Ward , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 5 November 1996; (p. 11)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Mapping the Unknown: Australian Mythical Landscape in Douglas Stewart's Voyager Poems Igor Maver , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia's Changing Landscapes : Proceedings of the Second EASA Conference : Sitges, Barcelona, October 1993 1995; (p. 139-144) Readings in Contemporary Australian Poetry 1997; (p. [57]-65)
Quests Anthony J. Hassall , 1988 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 13 no. 4 1988; (p. 390-408)
Cold Comfort Murray Bramwell , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , December no. 159 1996; (p. 33-34)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Untitled Marguerite I. Birch , 1955 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Quarterly , December vol. 27 no. 4 1955; (p. 125)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Fire of Yesteryear Keith Thomas , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: Nation , 27 April 1968; (p. 17)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Adrift in Arctic Waste Peter Ward , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 5 November 1996; (p. 11)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play
Untitled A. R. Chisholm , 1945 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Quarterly , vol. 17 no. 2 1945; (p. 115-116)

— Review of The Fire on the Snow Douglas Stewart , 1941 single work radio play ; The Golden Lover Douglas Stewart , 1942 single work radio play ; The Fire on the Snow and The Golden Lover : Two Plays for Radio Douglas Stewart , 1944 selected work radio play
'A Place of Ideals in Conflict' : Images of Antarctica in Australian Literature Elizabeth Leane , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Littoral Zone : Australian Contexts and Their Writers 2007; (p. 261-290)
This chapter examines Australian literature (poetry, fiction, and plays) dealing with Antarctica, focussing on each text's engagement with the Antarctic environment and the debates surrounding it. Beginning with two late nineteenth-century Antarctic utopias, the survey moves through the work of well-known writers such as Douglas Stewart and Thomas Keneally in the mid-century to more recent writing by Dorothy Porter, Les Murray, Caroline Caddy, and others. Less familiar material, such as poetry by Antarctic expeditioners themselves, is also discussed. The essay traces a rough progression in Australian representation of the far southern environment, from an initial utopian approach to an emphasis on its stark, 'timeless' icescape as a minimalist backdrop for human dramas to an appreciation of its changeability, complexity and fragility. (from The Littoral Zone)
Australian Drama from 'Sunny South' to 'Fire on the Snow' George Landen Dann , 1954 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Writing : The 1954 Anthology of the Queensland Authors and Artists Association (Fellowship of Australian Writers, Queensland Section) 1954; (p. 22-26)
Drama Terry Sturm , 1981 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Oxford History of Australian Literature 1981; (p. 175-267)
Radio Drama : The Australian Experience Rodney Pybus , 1981 1981 single work criticism
— Appears in: Radio Drama 1981; (p. 244-259)
The S.H. Prior Prize 1945 single work column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 18 July vol. 66 no. 3414 1945; (p. 7)
Last amended 26 Jul 2016 14:37:19
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