True History of the Kelly Gang: A Novel (Vintage International)
An unusual historical novel narrated through the voice of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. The first-person, dialect-inflected narration and fragmentary letters force a reconsideration of heroism, violence, and resistance to colonial authority.
Work Information
An outlaw's voice rethinks what a hero story can be.
Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang reworks the telling of history by giving Ned Kelly his own voice. Its rough style and fragmentation give a new shape to the mythologized rebel figure.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Published
- 2001-11-02
- Pages
- 384 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.13 x 2.08 x 20.29 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780375724671
- ISBN-10
- 0375724672
- Price
- 3287 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Biographical
“I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false.” In True History of the Kelly Gang , the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semiliterate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Ned saw his first prison cell at 15 and by the age of 26 had become the most wanted man in the wild colony of Victoria, taking over whole towns and defying the law until he was finally captured and hanged. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist.
Peter Carey lives in New York City.
Reviews
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訳本よりお薦めです。
ピーター・ケアリー著、２００３年ブッカー賞受賞ということで結構読んだ人いるんじゃないでしょうか？ 訳本の出版が遅れたのでたまらず買って読みました。 正直、訳本より原作で読んで欲しいです。 辞書に載ってない単語も出てくるけど、文章自体すごく読み安いので洋書ビギナーの人でも読めるじゃないかな。 ずっとネッドの一人称で綴られ、彼が何を考え何に抵抗していたのか、なにゆえケリー・ギャング結成に至ったのか…これがタイトル通り"true history"ならやはり彼は伝説の義賊たるにふさわしい人物だったんだなあと実感させれらました。 ただ、ネッドが善人にすぎる描かれ方をしてる気がしないでもないですが（笑） 他のギャングのメンバー、ダン、スティーブ、ジョーについてもなかなか面白く描かれてます。 特にスティーブ・ハートについては何と言うか…意外でした。 とにかくホントに読みやすいしさすがというか、文章がとても上手いので読む価値ありですよ♪ 括り出されてないセリフにもそのうち慣れるでしょう（笑）
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Good story
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This is a very engaging tale, written in the vernacular of that time. The first person narrative in the voice of Ned Kelly humanizes him and makes him a somewhat sympathetic character. The book also paints a vivid picture of the Australia of that period, a very rough and difficult era filled with hardship and suffering. I do recommend this book.
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Oscar & Lucinda hat mich auch den Geschmack gebracht, the Kelly Gang übertrifft meine Erwartungen. Geschrieben als Tagebuch Ned Kellys ist es etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig am Anfang - da eben nicht grammatikalisch korrekt geschrieben sondern - aber es gibt dem Buch das Besondere. DIe Geschichte ist interessant, der Robin Hood Australiens und man lernt einiges über die Geschichte und Geographie des Landes und das Selbstverständnis der Australier (Irish vs. English).
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Love the way Peter Carey uses language in a way that you can just imagine Ned Kelly would have done. Highly recommended for a rollicking read of a story that most Australians know well.
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A really good book on a interesting subject.
Related Literary Awards
- Booker Prize Edition 33 (2001) ・Winner