Tony Birch
Autore di The White Girl
Sull'Autore
Tony Birch was born in 1957 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He studied at the University of Melbourne and has a PhD in Urban cultures and histories. He is a poet, short story writer and novelist. Some of his work includes the novels Blood (2011), and Ghost River which won the 2016 Victorian mostra altro Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing. His three short story collections are Shadowboxing (2006), Father's Day (2009) and The Promise (2014). He is also a contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers' festivals, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra meno
Opere di Tony Birch
Opere correlate
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1957
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- Australia
- Luogo di nascita
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Luogo di residenza
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Istruzione
- University of Melbourne
- Attività lavorative
- writer
- Premi e riconoscimenti
- Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship (2015)
Utenti
Recensioni
Liste
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 19
- Opere correlate
- 9
- Utenti
- 395
- Popolarità
- #61,387
- Voto
- 3.8
- Recensioni
- 22
- ISBN
- 73
- Lingue
- 3
Birch is a straightforward writer of general fiction, and The White Girl is an easy read. Birch draws clear dividing lines between his good and evil characters, which would frustrate in a more literary work, but here feel instead like reflections of the cultural forces pulling at Sissy from both sides. To achieve this, Birch uses the literary toolkit of a Charles Dickens, drawing his supporting characters in broad strokes to better bring out the essential goodness of his protagonist (in contrast to the Emile Zola school of writing, where every character must be at least a little bit angelic and a wee bit cruel).
As Odette gradually narrates her past to Sissy, I was reminded how rarely older women get to play a leading role in fiction, and how rarely the grandmother/granddaughter relationship is permitted to be a positive force. The novel is also suffused with that strange melancholy of "historical fiction" set within what is - for some - still living memory. (For me, I had to occasionally check my assumptions that this was taking place in the distant past. No; only three decades after the events of this story, I myself would be growing up in a country town of my own. Admittedly, mine was more like the regional hub from which residents of Deane visit for their shopping and to gawk at the latest inventions of modernity.)
Nevertheless, I am surprised to see The White Girl among the finalists for this year's Miles Franklin Award. When I think of that award's goal to target the "highest literary merit", I think of many of Birch's fellow nominees - Peggy Frew's elegant prose, John Hughes' sparse determination, Philip Salom's inventiveness, and the sheer sublimity of Tara June Winch. I think instead we would be wise to celebrate Birch for his own strengths, and his ease of readership, rather than elevating popular fiction just so that awards panels can widen their audience base.
Still, none of this is Birch's fault. I would recommend The White Girl to all those interested in Australian history, but with a caveat that this is a Dickensian view of the world, not a Zolaesque one.… (altro)