Exhausted and losing faith, an Anglican minister flees his mission in Australia's northwest for the vast emptiness of the outback. In the desert he reflects on past transgressions and on his life's work.
To the Islands, a Lear-like tale of madness and destruction, was published when its author was only twenty-two. A poetic masterpiece, it was awarded the 1958 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal.
The work of Randolph Stow is as original in the Australian literary tradition as William Faulkner in the American tradition. He has been hailed as "the least visible figure of that great twentieth-century triumvirate of Australian novelists whose other members are Patrick White and Christina Stead."
Text is re-releasing five of Stow's major works under the Text Classics imprint, with introductions by key figures in Australian literature.
Randolph Stow was born in 1935. While at university he sent his poems to a British publisher, and the resulting collection won the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal in 1957. He worked briefly as an anthropologist's assistant in New Guinea, returning to Australia after he fell seriously ill. In the 1960s he lectured at universities in Australia and England, and lived in America on a Harkness fellowship. Stow died in 2010.
Exhausted and losing faith, an Anglican minister flees his mission in Australia's northwest for the vast emptiness of the outback. In the desert he reflects on past transgressions and on his life's work.
To the Islands, a Lear-like tale of madness and destruction, was published when its author was only twenty-
The work of Randolph Stow is as original in the Australian literary tradition as William Faulkner in the American tradition. He has been hailed as "the least visible figure of that great twentieth-century triumvirate of Australian novelists whose other members are Patrick White and Christina Stead."
Text is re-releasing five of Stow's major works under the Text Classics imprint, with introductions by key figures in Australian literature.
Randolph Stow was born in 1935. While at university he sent his poems to a British publisher, and the resulting collection won the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal in 1957. He worked briefly as an anthropologist's assistant in New Guinea, returning to Australia after he fell seriously ill. In the 1960s he lectured at universities in Australia and England, and lived in America on a Harkness fellowship. Stow died in 2010.
Industry Reviews
`To the Islands is a deeply moving and compassionate novel whose message and wisdom is still important today, which is why it deserves to be recognised as an important work of Australian literature.' * theconversation.com *
`To the Islands is a masterpiece.' * ANZ LitLovers *
`Powerful and convincing...An Australian classic.' -- Anthony J. Hassall
`It is a rare pleasure for those of us who are already fans to have these works at our disposal...[Stow was] the most talented and celebrated Australian author of the post-White generation.' * Monthly *
`It should be taken as no commentary on contemporary Oz Lit that I choose Text's fistful of Randolph Stow reissues for my local favourite(s) during 2015. Their appearance reminds us that a gentle, wise, wounded, and immensely talented poet in prose once lived among us.' * Geordie Williamson, Australian Book Review, Books of the Year 2015 *
