Richard Flanagan (1) (1961–)
Author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North
For other authors named Richard Flanagan, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Richard Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961. He received a Master of Letters degree from Oxford University. His first novel, Death of a River Guide, won Australia's National Fiction Award. His works include The Sound of One Hand Clapping, The Unknown Terrorist, and four history books. show more He has received numerous awards including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Gould's Book of Fish, the 2011 Tasmania Book Prize for Wanting, and the 2014 Man Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He directed a feature film version of The Sound of One Hand Clapping. He was also shortlisted for the UK Indie Booksellers Award with The Narrow Road to the Deep North. This same title was won the Margaret Scott Prize for best book by a Tasmanian writer 2015. In 2018, The Narrow Road to the Deep North will be made into an international television series. The University of Melbourne has appointed him as the Boisbouvier Founding Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne, a new professorship to 'advance the teaching, understanding and public appreciation of Australian literature'. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Richard Flanagan
Associated Works
Hebbes 2 : 15 smaakmakers voor het voorjaar — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1961-07
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Australia
- Birthplace
- Longford, Tasmania, Australia
- Places of residence
- Rosebery, Tasmania, Australia
England, UK
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - Education
- University of Tasmania
Oxford University (Worcester College) - Occupations
- non-fiction writer
novelist
director
script writer - Awards and honors
- Rhodes Scholarship
Man Booker Prize (2014)
Members
Discussions
ANZAC Challenge January 2015- Richard Flanagan and Fiona Kidman in 75 Books Challenge for 2015 (January 2015)
2014 Booker Prize longlist: The Narrow Road to the Deep North in Booker Prize (December 2014)
Richard Flanagan's 'Wanting' in Australian LibraryThingers (December 2009)
Reviews
I finally finished this complicated and time shifting story told by Aljaz Cosini.
He is a river guide on the Franklin River in Tasmania and is fighting for survival as he struggles on a cliff in the rising waters. The story consists of flashbacks of his life and of his ancestors who were part of the penal colony, or miners or other trades trying to survive in the harsh landscape. Aljaz was a troubled lonely child of mixed blood who does not feel love or a sense of belonging to his past and yet this is what preoccupies his mind as he struggles to avoid drowning.
I found the story hard to follow as the timelines are all mixed up.… (more)
He is a river guide on the Franklin River in Tasmania and is fighting for survival as he struggles on a cliff in the rising waters. The story consists of flashbacks of his life and of his ancestors who were part of the penal colony, or miners or other trades trying to survive in the harsh landscape. Aljaz was a troubled lonely child of mixed blood who does not feel love or a sense of belonging to his past and yet this is what preoccupies his mind as he struggles to avoid drowning.
I found the story hard to follow as the timelines are all mixed up.… (more)
Extraordinary and memorable. Highly recommended.
Lists
THE WAR ROOM (1)
World Books (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 20
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 8,326
- Popularity
- #2,899
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 335
- ISBNs
- 341
- Languages
- 17
- Favorited
- 4
There are so many others though. Ella, whom he seems destined to marry; Amy, his lover and wife of his uncle; Darky Gardiner, surviving as POW against all the odds; Rooster MacNeice, ditto; Jack Rainbow, who succumbs to horrible gangrene; Fukuhara and Nakamura, Japanese officers charged with getting the necessary daily tally of work from the men, whatever the odds.
The story is highly nuanced. Saints are sinners too. The unremittingly evil turn out to have good in their soul as well. By running the story into the years long after the war is over, the long and potent shadow of those POW years is fully revealed.
The richness of the story is in the detail: poetry is a constant refrain; happy details, whether of langorous love making wihh Amy or some other lover, or the almost undealable with pleasure of a bartered duck egg to a POW slave. Details of beatings, constant, gnawing hunger and sickness are vivid but never gratuitous.
This is a fine book, which I shall revisit. Anyone who feels that you can't understand history from novels should give this a go. I've never come nearer to a real appreciation of those years at the Japanese POW camps than I have in this book.… (more)