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Dead Men Running
In this poignant and eventful novel D'Arcy Niland presents the What really happens when the ordinary world of evasion and pretence meets a man who is completely honest?Starkey Moore is this man, an island unto himself, impartial to mores or morals, traditional thinking or his fellows' opinion. Yet he is no figure from a morality play; he is vital, humorous, courageous and completely shocking, as unadorned truth and candour always must be. Across his path comes the young , lonely Joey, his very opposite, tender, vacillatory, carnal and priggish by turns, needing a hero and insisting upon finding one.This story of friendship and archaic disaster is played out against a remote landscape during a flare-up of nationalistic rage and hysteria.The mellow meditative style conceals a steely framework of tense and suspenseful story. With a Kazantzakis-like simplicity and inevitability D'Arcy Niland leads the reader towards the crashing last chapter.This is D'Arcy Niland's last novel, finished only a short time before he died, and this book contains the full story as it was written.No ISBN.
- GenresAustralia
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
26 people want to read
About the author
D'Arcy Niland
20 books15 followersD’Arcy Francis Niland was an Australian author who wrote prolifically during his lifetime. He is well-known for his classic novel The Shiralee, a best-selling book which has never been out of print since its first publication in 1955. His major interest was in the craft of short story writing. He produced over five hundred short stories published in Australia and abroad.
D’Arcy Niland was born in Glen Innes, NSW on 20 October 1917. He was educated at St Joseph’s School in Glen Innes and it was here, he was encouraged to write by the nuns who saw a literary potential in their young pupil.
Having to leave school by the age of fourteen to help support his large family, he took on varied employment in shearing sheds, potato fields, opal mines, circus tents and boxing shows. He educated himself by reading the dictionary and practised his writing craft when he could.
The Niland family left Glen Innes around 1933, to live in Sydney. D’Arcy Niland worked as a copyboy at the Sun newspaper. He supplemented his small income by working at the railway sheds at Redfern, Sydney.
In 1942 he married Ruth Park, a New Zealander, with whom he had been corresponding for several years about their like-minded goals as writers. Once married, the couple decided to make a concerted effort to pursue their dream to live entirely by writing. They worked in partnership and alone, producing an enormous output of stories, songs, jingles, plays, factual articles, scripts, poems and novels.
In Balgowlah, NSW, they raised their family of five children, whilst juggling writing commitments.
Achieving wider recognition through winning various literary prizes, D’Arcy Niland was awarded £600 by the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1952 to write a novel.
The result was The Shiralee, published in 1955. It was an international success. There have been over sixty-five editions and many translations. It was made into a film of the same name in 1957, starring Peter Finch, and a cast of well-known Australian actors. The Shiralee was also made into a popular television mini-series in 1987, with Bryan Brown as Macauley.
D’Arcy Niland continued writing to the end of his life, completing his last novel Dead Men Running two days before his death on 29 March 1967.
D’Arcy Niland was born in Glen Innes, NSW on 20 October 1917. He was educated at St Joseph’s School in Glen Innes and it was here, he was encouraged to write by the nuns who saw a literary potential in their young pupil.
Having to leave school by the age of fourteen to help support his large family, he took on varied employment in shearing sheds, potato fields, opal mines, circus tents and boxing shows. He educated himself by reading the dictionary and practised his writing craft when he could.
The Niland family left Glen Innes around 1933, to live in Sydney. D’Arcy Niland worked as a copyboy at the Sun newspaper. He supplemented his small income by working at the railway sheds at Redfern, Sydney.
In 1942 he married Ruth Park, a New Zealander, with whom he had been corresponding for several years about their like-minded goals as writers. Once married, the couple decided to make a concerted effort to pursue their dream to live entirely by writing. They worked in partnership and alone, producing an enormous output of stories, songs, jingles, plays, factual articles, scripts, poems and novels.
In Balgowlah, NSW, they raised their family of five children, whilst juggling writing commitments.
Achieving wider recognition through winning various literary prizes, D’Arcy Niland was awarded £600 by the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1952 to write a novel.
The result was The Shiralee, published in 1955. It was an international success. There have been over sixty-five editions and many translations. It was made into a film of the same name in 1957, starring Peter Finch, and a cast of well-known Australian actors. The Shiralee was also made into a popular television mini-series in 1987, with Bryan Brown as Macauley.
D’Arcy Niland continued writing to the end of his life, completing his last novel Dead Men Running two days before his death on 29 March 1967.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 31, 2019
I began reading this book in an attempt to make room for some new books on my 'Australia' shelf, but I knew from the first few pages that I wouldn't be parting with it afterwards. Dead Men Running by D'Arcy Niland (1917-1967) had me captivated from the first words, narrated by Joey:
... wet as a shag ... a slish of oilskins... can't you just see him standing there, in his Driza-Bone?
Finished only two days before D'Arcy Niland's death at the untimely age of only 49, Dead Men Running was published posthumously by his widow Ruth Park. This is the blurb from the first edition dustjacket:
It's a remarkable story, and the blurb does the character of Joey a bit of a disservice. This is a coming-of-age story in which hero-worship confronts the reality of human nature. Though the story is set in 1916, the reader learns through flashbacks that Joey was orphaned in Ireland, came to Australia as a teenager to escape poverty and make a new life for himself, and soon found himself work with the Larrissey family who treated him like a son. But things went awry when Joey witnessed the indiscretion of his employer's wife, and he had the maturity to recognise that her fear of exposure had soured their relationship irrevocably.
So he left, and soon found himself alone in a strange town, friendless and sick. Shivering with fever on the teeming streets of Hope, he was ignored by passers-by until Starkey rescued him, took him home and nursed him back to health.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/31/d...
Tuesday Evening, 1916
I heard the front door slam, the feet clattering up the stairs like the rataplan of drums. The door flew back and rebounded as he charged in, wet as a shag, full of the excitement and urgency of action. I would have asked him who was chasing him only the violence and grimness I sensed shut my mouth on the words. He said nothing. He swiftly crossed the room, a slish of oilskins drippling water, and dragged the tin trunk from under his bed.
"What is it?" I said. "What's up?"
He had two guns in there, the one he settled Amos Frost with and the unlicensed one the police knew nothing about. He checked and pocketed that and pushed the trunk back. (p.11)
... wet as a shag ... a slish of oilskins... can't you just see him standing there, in his Driza-Bone?Finished only two days before D'Arcy Niland's death at the untimely age of only 49, Dead Men Running was published posthumously by his widow Ruth Park. This is the blurb from the first edition dustjacket:
In this poignant and eventful novel D'Arcy Niland presents the question: What really happens when the ordinary world of evasion and pretence meets a man who is completely honest?
Starkey Moore is this man, an island unto himself, impartial to mores or morals, traditional thinking or his fellows' opinion. Yet he is no figure from a morality play; he is vital, humorous, courageous and completely shocking, as unadorned truth and candour always must be. Across his path comes the young, lonely Joey, his very opposite, tender, vacillatory, carnal and priggish by turns, needing a hero and insisting upon finding one.
This story of friendship and archaic disaster is played out against a remote landscape during a flare-up of nationalistic rage and hysteria.
The mellow meditative style conceals a steely framework of tense and suspenseful story. With a Kazantzakis-like simplicity and inevitability D'Arcy Niland leads the reader towards the crashing last chapter.
This is D'Arcy Niland's last novel, finished only a short time before he died, and this book contains the full story as it was written.
It's a remarkable story, and the blurb does the character of Joey a bit of a disservice. This is a coming-of-age story in which hero-worship confronts the reality of human nature. Though the story is set in 1916, the reader learns through flashbacks that Joey was orphaned in Ireland, came to Australia as a teenager to escape poverty and make a new life for himself, and soon found himself work with the Larrissey family who treated him like a son. But things went awry when Joey witnessed the indiscretion of his employer's wife, and he had the maturity to recognise that her fear of exposure had soured their relationship irrevocably.
So he left, and soon found himself alone in a strange town, friendless and sick. Shivering with fever on the teeming streets of Hope, he was ignored by passers-by until Starkey rescued him, took him home and nursed him back to health.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/31/d...
Displaying 1 of 1 review