21st Century Literature discussion

This is the thread for general discussion of Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, originally published in 2006 by Giramondo. Carpentaria won the 2007 Miles Franklin Award.

Alexis Wright is a Waanyi writer, regarded both for her literary work and political activism. To date, she has four published novels, in addition to other work:
- Plains of Promise (1997)
- Carpentaria (2006)
- The Swan Book (2013)
- Praiseworthy (2023)

Here are links to a handful of reviews of Carpentaria:
- https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...
- https://web.archive.org/web/200711132...
- https://web.archive.org/web/200707081...
- https://web.archive.org/web/200709281...

Who is planning to join this? This will be a good one to read together.

I will be in for this, though I may be reading the book slowly.

Welcome aboard, Sam. Once we get a sense of who all is reading, we can decide what other threads to open. This is a hefty novel (516 pages in my Simon & Schuster edition), so a slower pace is a-ok.

I am going to try it. Picked it up from the library yesterday.

Welcome, Stacia. Chapter 1 is a good way to get a flavor of the book. I'll be interested to hear what you make of it.

I've got it on hold, but it'll be a bit until I pick it up. Waiting...

Great - glad you can join too, Mark.

I read first two chapters, it's too early to comment about characters, plot and structure of the book, but I like the use of language....it's terrific and enough for me to go on reading.

You're about as far along as I am, Nidhi. I'm enjoying it too. I'll open another thread later today for substantive comments about the prose, characters, themes, etc.

Just picked up my copy on hold at the library yesterday. Engaging first two chapters...

I’m hoping to join in but it will probably be the end of this week before I start it.

Welcome Marc and Lesley. I'll open another thread where we can discuss more substance. We can keep this thread going to coordinate and as an entry point for the discussion.

I'm waiting for the hold as well, but hoping to join eventually!

Alison Ravenscroft's book The Postcolonial Eye: White Australian Desire and the Visual Field of Race has a chapter dedicated to a discussion of Carpentaria: https://books.google.com/books?id=uuK...

Only a few pages can be viewed, but it might be helpful to situate Carpentaria and the reception it received upon publication.

This short paper by Diane Molloy might be helpful too: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/22943...

Our reading certainly seems timely given recent Australian politics:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-austra...

Marc wrote: "Our reading certainly seems timely given recent Australian politics:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-austra..."

Wow. Thanks for sharing that.

Eta: Wikipedia has more on it too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigen...

That's very timely. And it helps give perspective on some of the politics touched on in Carpentaria. Even though Carpentaria is 15-20 years old, it still seems current in terms of the issues facing the Aboriginal communities.

Marc wrote: "Our reading certainly seems timely given recent Australian politics:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-austra..."

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Sadly

Getting to this now. After five chapters my main thought is that I wish I had an annotated copy which addressed some of my questions since I haven't the time to pursue them myself beyond a rudimentary google search. Instead, I find myself comparing the work to other books and films of ANZ origin, of both indigenous origin or indigenous topic as explored/appropriated by artists of nonindigenous origin. My experience is far more with film and that is mostly with nonindigenous filmmakers attempting to capture the cultural experience of indigenous peoples.

The second comparison I am making is to Australian humor which often seems rooted in what I consider more male elements, black humor often based on violent or coarse incidents, actions independent of authority often targeting authorities. and a mixture of imaginary or exaggerated fantastic happenings that lend color to the tale. The use of this style of humor can be found in a variety of works, from the recent Boy Swallows Universe to the older Oscar and Lucinda to the nonfictional The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding
In fact I am including Robert Hughes' history for his almost unforgettable description of the scene of prison ships carrying women landing in Sydney Cove in the late 1700's and "the lightning of a ferocious Sydney storm revealing couples bestially 'rutting' in the 'red clay," fueling an imagined myth of a foundational orgy that most think more fact than fiction. Here's a more informative link:

https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/...

So with consideration to those two examples, does anyone have any thoughts on other indigenous works and how they compare to Carpentaria, either book or film, or other ANZ works of humor in comparison, again book or film? At the top of my list, though it is considered a children's work, would be Henry Safran's 1976 film Storm Boy (featuring the wonderful David Gulpilil) and based on the children's novella, Storm Boy by Colin Thiele. I think as an introduction, this captures a certain relationship of indigenous to nature and the sea as well as the white man.

This definitely feels Australian in its humor. Both the coarseness and lampooning authority figures. Early in the book, there was a white tablecloth celebration where dignitaries from the South flew in. It was ruined by a dust storm and Normal made some crude remarks in a language they couldn't understand.

I can't think of other works by indigenous writers that share this sensibility. In fact, this might be the first book by a ANZ indigenous writer that I've read.