What are the great Australian novels?

Cafe Society
21

There is only one Huck Finn. Who is the American Dickens? The American Tolstoy?

So these are not Huck Finn, but all, I think, still in print:

“I can jump puddles” (Alan Marshall 1955)
“The getting of wisdom” (Henry Handel Richardson 1910)
“7 little Australians” (Ethel Turner 1894)

“Such is life” ( Tom Collins 1903)
“Robbery under arms” (Rolf Boldrewood 1882)
“For the term of his natural life” (Marcus Clarke 1874)

The first two are fairly light weight, and have young protagonists. The last three are, vide Tom Collins / Joseph Furphy: Scene, Australia; temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian.

BTW, one of the things I noticed reading the Australian Classics was the recurring fear of loosing your children in the bush. But note that TGOW and 7LA are country/city books: even then, Australia was more city than most countries are.

(PS: Australia doesn’t have Moby Dick. It has “the cultural cringe”)

22

On the Beach fueled many a middle school fantasy and this was in bumfuck USA.

Thornbirds.

For non-fiction, One Crowded Hour is a GREAT read.

23

Another enthusiastic vote for Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang. A great faux autobiography of a noted Australian outlaw - funny, exciting, intriguing. My favorite bit: since it was supposedly being written for the ruffian’s daughter, the word “adjectival” is always substituted for “fucking.”

24

If you enjoy modern detective fiction you should explore Peter Temple’s and Garry Disher’s current output. Both are modern detective procedurals, lots of evocation of place and full of distinctive local concerns. Highly recommended. Peter Corris also has a series set in Sydney with Cliff Hardy - I find these very uneven but his may be the most readily available internationally.

Overall we were not well-served by our education system in getting fed a canon of good Australian literature as kids. We don’t have a Moby Dick but do have songs and poems that fill that role - Waltzing Matilda, Man from Snowy River [and Abba lyrics perhaps].

25

Hmmm - tough.

Patrick White is held up as the Man On The Pedestal - our only Nobel winner. Be warned - he has a particular style and many people find him very hard to read (which helps with the snob factor). The Tree of Man is notorious for making people give up by page 3.

I don’t think we have a particular great classic - and few of our novels are widely read around the world. Colleen McCullough probably has our greatest international fame.

Seriously - if I had to nominate one - The Magic Pudding. Kid’s book - but adjectivally wonderful.