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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A young petty criminal, Lee, wakes in a seedy motel to find a bullet in his side and a suitcase of stolen money next to him, with only the haziest memory of exactly how he got there. Soon he meets Wild, a morphine-addicted doctor who is escaping his own disastrous life. The two men form an unwilling, unlikely alliance and set out for the safety of a country estate owned by a former colleague of Wild's named Sherman.
'As they flee the city, they develop an uneasy intimacy, inevitably revisiting their pasts even as they desperately seek to evade them. Lee is haunted by a brief stint in jail, while Wild is on the run from the legacy of medical malpractice. But Lee and Wild are not alone: they are pursued through an increasingly alien and gothic landscape by the ageing gangster Josef, who must retrieve the stolen money and deal with Lee to ensure his own survival. By the time Josef finally catches up to them, all three men have been forced to confront the parts of themselves they sought to outrun.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: For my mother, my brother and my sister, who know something of the roads I have travelled.
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Epigraph: A man's character is his fate. - Heraclitus, On the Universe.
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Epigraph: And what the dead had no speech for, when living
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living. - T.S.Eliot, Little Gidding.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
There Was Nothing, There Was Nowhere to Go : Writing Australian Rural Noir
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 37 2016; 'When I embarked on my doctorate in creative writing, I wanted to write about the decline of an alternative community in the 1980s, similar to the one in which I had grown up. A noir novel seemed the perfect vehicle for the dark themes I planned to explore, and promised to be very different from the private eye series I usually wrote. Typically, noir is located in urban environments and many studies of noir fiction and film maintain that an urban setting is integral to the genre, speaking as it does to the anxiety and alienation of modern life, feelings of anonymity and of being the outsider, and the corruption and criminality of the city. Much contemporary noir fiction still takes place in metropolitan areas; however, there is, increasingly, a sub-genre situated in rural locations, as illustrated by the rise of ‘Country’ or ‘Hillbilly Noir’ in the USA. Australian crime fiction has long made use of the bush and outback as a location – usually as a site of conquest where the hero ultimately triumphs over the antagonist; however, noir narratives are different, invariably ending in destruction and defeat. This article will investigate Australian Rural Noir through a comparative textual analysis of Kenneth Cooke’s Wake in Fright, Chris Womersley’s The Low Road and Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites. It will consider the ways in which Australian rural noir uses landscape to subvert the pastoral paradigm and will examine the tensions between the exterior landscape and the interior life of the protagonists, reflecting on the particularly Australian cultural anxieties implicit in these texts. I also discuss my own research-led practice, the challenges involved in being an insider researcher and, finally, consider whether this nexus between the critical and creative helps or hinders the creative writing process.' (Publication abstract) -
Repeat Offenders
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 69 no. 3 2010; (p. 142-148) -
The Outsiders
Paul Mitchell
(interviewer),
2010
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Big Issue , 31 August - 13 September no. 362 2010; (p. 32-33) -
No Place Like Home
2010
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 69 no. 3 2010; (p. 102-107) -
The Year's Work in Fiction : 2007-2008
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 53 no. 2008; (p. 50-58)
— Review of From : The Time We Have Taken 2007 extract novel ; Prime Cuts 2008 selected work short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2007 2007 anthology short story extract autobiography ; The Trout Opera 2007 single work novel ; Fear of Tennis 2007 single work novel ; The Complete Stories 2007 selected work short story ; Redfin 2007 selected work short story ; Rohypnol 2006 single work novel ; Breath 2008 single work novel ; The Last Sky 2008 single work novel ; Landscape of Farewell 2007 single work novel ; A History of the Beanbag : And Other Stories 2007 selected work short story ; Dead Birds 2007 single work novel ; Secrets of the Sea 2007 single work novel ; Other Country 2007 single work novel ; The Low Road 2007 single work novel ; Lilia's Secret 2007 single work novel
-
[Review] The Low Road
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August vol. 87 no. 2 2007; (p. 34)
— Review of The Low Road 2007 single work novel -
Journey to a Bleak Heart
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 September 2007; (p. 10-11)
— Review of The Low Road 2007 single work novel -
Thrill of the Chase
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 22 September 2007; (p. 12)
— Review of The Night Has a Thousand Eyes : A Novel 2007 single work novel ; The Low Road 2007 single work novel -
Take Three
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 30 September 2007; (p. 25)
— Review of Whitecap 2007 single work novel ; The Low Road 2007 single work novel -
Writers with Readers in Mind
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 2 no. 9 2007; (p. 21-23)
— Review of Napoleon's Double 2007 single work novel ; The River Baptists 2006 single work novel ; Ron McCoy's Sea of Diamonds : A Novel 2007 single work novel ; The Low Road 2007 single work novel -
You Can Run, but You Can't Hide - the Past is Always Waiting
2007
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 22 September 2007; (p. 27) -
No Place Like Home
2010
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 69 no. 3 2010; (p. 102-107) -
The Outsiders
Paul Mitchell
(interviewer),
2010
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Big Issue , 31 August - 13 September no. 362 2010; (p. 32-33) -
Repeat Offenders
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 69 no. 3 2010; (p. 142-148) -
There Was Nothing, There Was Nowhere to Go : Writing Australian Rural Noir
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 37 2016; 'When I embarked on my doctorate in creative writing, I wanted to write about the decline of an alternative community in the 1980s, similar to the one in which I had grown up. A noir novel seemed the perfect vehicle for the dark themes I planned to explore, and promised to be very different from the private eye series I usually wrote. Typically, noir is located in urban environments and many studies of noir fiction and film maintain that an urban setting is integral to the genre, speaking as it does to the anxiety and alienation of modern life, feelings of anonymity and of being the outsider, and the corruption and criminality of the city. Much contemporary noir fiction still takes place in metropolitan areas; however, there is, increasingly, a sub-genre situated in rural locations, as illustrated by the rise of ‘Country’ or ‘Hillbilly Noir’ in the USA. Australian crime fiction has long made use of the bush and outback as a location – usually as a site of conquest where the hero ultimately triumphs over the antagonist; however, noir narratives are different, invariably ending in destruction and defeat. This article will investigate Australian Rural Noir through a comparative textual analysis of Kenneth Cooke’s Wake in Fright, Chris Womersley’s The Low Road and Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites. It will consider the ways in which Australian rural noir uses landscape to subvert the pastoral paradigm and will examine the tensions between the exterior landscape and the interior life of the protagonists, reflecting on the particularly Australian cultural anxieties implicit in these texts. I also discuss my own research-led practice, the challenges involved in being an insider researcher and, finally, consider whether this nexus between the critical and creative helps or hinders the creative writing process.' (Publication abstract)
Awards
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