In the Shade of the Shady Tree single work   short story  
  • Author:agent John Kinsella http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/kinsella-john
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 In the Shade of the Shady Tree
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The Shady Tree. The Tree at the Centre of Town. The Big Fig Tree. The Lovers’ Tree. It had a bunch of names, with different age groups favouring different names. It was an old tree, at least sixty years, and long ago seats had been set up under its massive twisting limbs for a quiet and cool moment in this hot, inland wheatbelt town. Even when the fruits came and fell and stained all around, people sat there. At night ‘the boys’ drank and smoked, sometimes ‘pashed on’ with their girls. During the day the town ‘characters’ would sit, watching all that went by, and waiting for acknowledgement and greeting. Ol’ Bill had right of way—for a good fifty of the sixty years, he’d spent at least an hour every day on one of the seats. The tree was cherished, and was even photographed as part of the authentic heritage look of the town.'  (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Meanjin vol. 68 no. 1 Autumn 2009 Z1564615 2009 periodical issue 2009 pg. 169-174
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon In the Shade of the Shady Tree : Stories of Wheatbelt Australia John Kinsella , Athens : Swallow Press Ohio University Press , 2012 Z1853424 2012 selected work short story (taught in 1 units)

    'In the Shade of the Shady Tree is a collection of stories set in the Western Australian wheatbelt, a vast grain-growing area that ranges across the southwestern end of the immense Australian interior. Kinsella's stories offer glimpses into the lives of the people who call this area home.

    Cast against a backdrop of indigenous dispossession, settler migration, and the destructive impact of land-clearing and monocultural farming methods, the stories offer moments of connection with the inhabitants, ranging from the matter-of-fact to the bizarre and inexplicable. Something about the nature of the place wrestles with all human interactions and affects their outcomes. The land itself is a dominant character, with dust, gnarled scrubland, and the need for rain underpinning human endeavour.

    Inflected with both contemporary ideas of short fiction and the "everyman" tradition of Australian storytelling, this collection will introduce many readers to a new landscape and unforgettable characters' (Publisher's blurb).

    Athens : Swallow Press Ohio University Press , 2012
    pg. 140-147
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Meanjin A-Z : Fiction 1980 to Now Jonathan Green (editor), Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 2018 13957310 2018 anthology short story

    'Think of an Australian writer and chances are that at some time or another they’ve had short fiction published in Meanjin.
    'For the first time a treasure trove of this writing leaps from the pages of Meanjin into a book of fine fiction.
    'You’ll read Tim Winton, David Malouf and recent work by Jennifer Mills. In between you’ll find John Kinsella, Eliot Perlman, Elizabeth Jolley, Nicholas Jose, Bruce Pascoe, Melissa Lucashenko, A.S. Patric and many more. '  (Publication summary)

    Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 2018
    pg. 111-120
Last amended 12 Jun 2018 10:41:08
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