James Tait Black Memorial Prizes
Praiseworthy
Set in a fictional town in northern Australia, this epic novel braids together colonial history, the climate crisis, and Indigenous knowledge and myth on a vast scale. Its polyphonic, experimental style expands the story of communal crisis and survival.
Work Information
A monumental novel that absorbs the pressure of land and history through mythic imagination.
The novel follows a town and a family under pressure through myth, satire, political critique, and the rhythms of oral storytelling. It is presented as an ambitious and densely layered work that significantly extends the reach of Australian fiction.
Book Information
- Publisher
- New Directions
- Published
- 2024-02-06
- Pages
- 662 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.72 x 4.57 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780811238014
- ISBN-10
- 0811238016
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Historical
WINNER OF THE 2024 MILES FRANKLIN AWARDWINNER OF THE 2024 STELLA PRIZEWINNER OF THE 2024 JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZEWINNER OF THE 2023 QUEENSLAND AWARD FOR LITERARY FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARDPraiseworthy
Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The author of the prize-winning novels Carpentaria and The Swan Book , Wright has published three works of non-fiction: Take Power , an oral history of the Central Land Council; Grog War , a study of alcohol abuse in the Northern Territory; and Tracker , an award-winning collective memoir of Aboriginal leader Tracker Tilmouth. Her work has been translated into Chinese, Polish, French, and Italian. She held the position of Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne between 2017-2022. Wright is the only author to win both the Miles Franklin Award (in 2007 for Carpentaria ) and the Stella Prize (in 2018 for Tracker ).
Reviews
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What an epic! What a transformative journey I’ve been on with Cause Man Steel and his family, his country…and his maker, Alexis Wright. Thank you, Ms. Wright, for your activity in the world.
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It’s a physically large book. Think about another format. That said, it’s an amazing book, brilliantly written from within the madness of living within a broken culture. Often heart-breaking, I’m finding it a tough and rewarding read.
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Topaktuelle Themen, verpackt in ein sprachliches Feuer- und Meisterwerk. Geschrieben mit einem mitreißenden Furor, der seinesgleichen sucht. Außerdem taucht man in eine Kultur ein, von der wir hier in Europa kaum etwas wissen. Bislang nur im Original zu erhalten und meines Erachtens auch kaum adäquat zu übersetzen. Wenn man bedenkt, dass diese Autorin unter den Nobelpreisanwärterinnen ganz weit oben zu finden ist, schmerzt es doppelt, welchen Kitsch man 2024 ausgezeichnet hat.
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Look, the book is the same in any version but I think I wanted to buy it when Amazon did not have the Giramondo version. Now they do have it. Praiseworthy is a difficult read but is going to be an essential part of Australian literature.
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Great story