He is the author of seven highly praised books of fiction, and in 1999 he received the prestigious Patrick White Literary Award.Īndrew Zawacki is the author of three poetry books and of several chapbooks. During his working life he was at various times an editor and a teacher, and at his retirement he was senior lecturer in fiction writing at Deakin University. He spent part of his childhood in country districts in the State of Victoria but returned to Melbourne in 1949 and has never since left. Gerald Murnane was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1939. Peter Craven, Melbourne Age Gerald Murnane a strenuously original writer with a unique vision and a flawless style.” “One of the finest writers we have produced. “A teasing and singular novel, one which reverberates in the imagination.” “A mirage of landscape, memory, love and literature itself.” Deeply mysterious yet grounded in familiar, everyday detail, this novel is an alchemical miracle, converting vision into pure narrative. “ The Plains are a vast place inhabited by wealthy landowners whose prime obsession seems to be preserving history by ‘shaping from uneventful days in a flat landscape the substance of myth.’ A film-maker arrives to record aspects of their heritage, discovering symbols, stories and parables that transcend spiritual, political or cultural purposes even the rugged patriarchy of their world is somehow illusory. Gerald Murnane is unquestionably one of the most original writers working in Australia today and The Plains is a fascinating and rewarding book” It is also subtly satirical and often ingeniously funny. “ The Plains is parable, fable, allegory, analogue, mythology, and vision.

Winner of the Patrick White Literary Award

The plains by gerald murnane