Kangaroo - Couverture souple

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1410101754 ISBN 13 : 9781410101754

Editeur : Fredonia Books (NL), 2003

Synopsis

Writer Richard Somers and his wife Harriet leave exhausted post-war Europe in the hope of rebuilding their marriage in a new and freer world. In Australia, in an idyllic cottage by the sea, they believe they have finally realised their dream - until they meet and become involved with Kangaroo, the influential and charismatic leader of a secret fascist army called the Diggers. Much of the writing in this novel is based on Lawrence's experiences in Australia. One of Lawrence's great novels. A beautiful blend of political outburst and Australian life and landscape. Chapter 10, The Nightmare, describes his war-time confrontations with authority in Cornwall and his humiliating examination for service. The novel's protagonist, like Lawrence, was rejected as "unfit". Kangaroo is one of the best travel books ever written, with "unforgettable vivid and accurate pictures of the Australian continent, in which no other English writer has approached Lawrence." - The Bookseller "..a portrait of D. H. Lawrence and Frieda during their stay in Australia, a segment of his life and work without which the whole man cannot be seen in full proportion." - The Bookseller

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Kangaroo is an account of a visit to New South Wales by an English writer named Richard Lovat Somers, and his German wife Harriet, in the early 1920s. This appears to be semi-autobiographical, based on a three-month visit to Australia by Lawrence and his wife Frieda, in 1922. The novel includes a chapter ("Nightmare") describing the Somers' experiences in wartime Cornwall (St Columb Major), vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape, and Richard Somers' sceptical reflections on fringe politics in Sydney. Australian journalist Robert Darroch — in several articles in the late 1970s, and a 1981 book entitled D.H. Lawrence in Australia — claimed that Lawrence based Kangaroo on real people and events he witnessed in Australia. The extent to which this is true remains a matter of controversy - particularly by Joseph Davis in his 1989 "D.H. Lawrence at Thirroul"(Collins, Sydney). Davis is sympathetic to the view that "Kangaroo" may be based on real events but argues that it is impossible that Lawrence had time to meet clandestine political leaders in Sydney when he was too busy writing his novel in Thirroul. Davis feels it is more likely to have been a local south coast identity associated with Thirroul who would have provided some of the details of Lawrence's political plot. "Kangaroo" is the fictional nickname of one of Lawrence's characters, Benjamin Cooley, a prominent ex-soldier and lawyer, who is also the leader of a secretive, fascist paramilitary organisation, the "Diggers Club". Cooley fascinates Somers, but he maintains his distance from the movement itself. It has been suggested by Darroch and others that Cooley was based on Major General Charles Rosenthal, a notable World War I leader and right wing activist. It has also been alleged that Rosenthal was involved with the Old Guard, a secret anti-communist militia, set up by the Bruce government. Similarly, according to Darroch, the character of Jack Calcott — who is the Somers' neighbour in Sydney and introduces Richard Somers to Cooley — may have been based on a controversial Australian military figure, Major John Scott, who was both an associate of Rosenthal, and an Old Guard official. Another central character is Willie Struthers, a left wing activist reputed to have been based partly on Willem Siebenhaar, who made Lawrence's acquaintance in Western Australia. Kangaroo's movement, and the "great general emotion" of Kangaroo himself, do not appeal to Somers, and in this the novel begins to reflect Lawrence's own experiences during World War I. Somers also rejects the socialism of Struthers, which emphasises "generalised love". The novel is sometimes cited as an influence on the Jindyworobak movement, an Australian nationalist literary group, which emerged about a decade later. Gideon Haigh saw fit to dub it "one of the sharpest fictional visions of the country and its people". It was adapted as a film, also called Kangaroo in 1986, featuring Colin Friels as Somers, Judy Davis as Harriet and Hugh Keays-Byrne as "Kangaroo".

Biographie de l'auteur

David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism and personal letters. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct. In his last months he wrote numerous poems, reviews and essays, as well as a robust defence of his last novel against those who sought to suppress it. His last significant work was a reflection on the Book of Revelation, Apocalypse. After being discharged from a sanatorium, he died at the Villa Robermond in Vence, France, from complications of tuberculosis.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Fredonia Books (NL)
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1410101754
• ISBN 13: 9781410101754
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 428
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible