Drift

by Brian Castro

'Brian Castro's fifth novel is perhaps his most complex and certainly his most political. Like all his work it is productively playful, punningly irreverent and deeply concerned with sex and death, fact and fiction, but also more seriously with the redemptive possibilities of art and the existential power of the novel - all in the context of Australia's contested history.' from the Introduction by Katharine England

'A novel of daring, of enormous originality of ideas, of our history seen through a kaleidoscopic imagination dizzying in its range ...' - Matthew Condon, Australian

'Brian Castro is an amazingly gifted writer ...' - Helen Elliott, Canberra Times

'I really do think that Castro should be a contender for a Nobel Prize. He is a remarkable author.' - Lisa Hill, ANZ LitLovers

Genres: Novels, 20th Century, Tasmania

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Brian Castro was born in Hong Kong in 1950 of Portuguese, Chinese and English parents. He was sent to boarding school in Australia in 1961 (1962, Oakhill College, Castle Hill / 1963-67, St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill.). He attended the University of Sydney from 1968-71 and won the Sydney University short story competition in 1970. He gained his BA Dip.Ed. in 1972 and his MA in 1976 from Sydney University.

He was joint winner of the Australian/Vogel literary award for his first novel Birds of Passage (1983), which has been translated into French and Chinese. This was followed by Pomeroy (1990), Double-Wolf (1991), winner of The Age Fiction Prize, the Victorian Premier's Innovatory Writing Award and the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, and subsequently After China (1992), which again won the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction at the 1993 Victorian Premier's Awards. This was also subsequently translated into French and Chinese. His fifth novel, Drift, was published in July 1994. His sixth novel Stepper won the 1997 National Book Council 'Banjo' Prize for fiction. In 1999 he published a collection of essays, Looking For Estrellita (University of Queensland Press). In 2003 Giramondo published his 'fictional autobiography', Shanghai Dancing, which won the Vance Palmer Prize at the 2003 Victorian Premier's Awards, the Christina Stead Prize at the 2004 NSW Premier’s Awards and was named the NSW Premier’s Book of the Year. His most recent novel, The Garden Book, published by Giramondo in 2005, was shortlisted for the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award and won the Queensland Premier's Prize for Fiction.

Brian Castro has worked in Australia, France and Hong Kong as a teacher and writer, and for several years was a literary reviewer for Asiaweek magazine. He wrote the text for The Lingerie Catalogue, a collaborative project with photomonteur Peter Lyssiotis. Castro also contributed the text Stones for Al-Kitab for a limited edition work by Peter Lyssiotis entitled A Gardener At Midnight, produced in 2004.

Brian Castro currently divides his time between Adelaide and Melbourne.

Two of his novels, Pomeroy and Stepper (Stepper, oder Die Kunst der Spionage) have been published in German by Klett Cotta. His novel After China (L’Architecte Chinois), was published by Editions de L’Aube in France in 2003.

(from http://www.lythrumpress.com.au/castro...)

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good indeed. My first of his books, and certainly not my last. Of particular interest to fans of BS Johnson, but one certainly does not need to know much about him or his work to read this

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I most often skip introductions to the novels I read, but something caught my eye in the one in Brian Castro’s Drift and I ended up reading all of it before I began reading the book. I’m glad I did, because although it doesn’t give anything away, Katharine England provides some interesting pointers to enjoying Drift, not the least of which is this useful warning (which might apply as much to this review as it does to Brian Castro’s book):


…if you like things in black and white – fixed premises, unequivocal answers – this book, in which everything moves and shifts and comes round again in subtly altered focus is probably not for you. (Introduction, x)

England quotes a paragraph from Looking for Estrellita in which Castro which explains that he prefers to read books that he doesn’t understand straight away, and that he writes similar books himself. So


…Castro’s books are for readers who distrust easy certainties in fiction and like to work – and particularly play – with all the nuances of a text, reconstructing to their own individual satisfaction the author’s intentions and concerns, (Introduction, ix)

I enjoy books like this, and since I had previously enjoyed The Garden Book (2005) and The Bath Fugues (2009) (see my review), I was very pleased to see what I thought was a new novel on the Wakefield Press website. (This was despite not having yet read Pomeroy (1991), Stepper (1997) and Shanghai Dancing, (2003) waiting patiently on my TBR). But no, Drift is not a new novel - however its presence in Wakefield’s catalogue is even better in a way – because in an era when backlist availability is in peril, it’s great to see a publisher offering Castro’s earlier novels. I was very pleased indeed when they very kindly sent a copy of Drift to me for review.

To see the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2011/11/01/dr...

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book grew on me. In the beginning the story jumps about and it isn't clear what is happening. The story seems garbled and I didn't like it at all. When the contemporary story moved to Tasmania it started to come together for me although I still couldn't be sure what was really happening! Once I finished I turned back to the start and skimmed through it again.