- Hardcover
- Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (May 1988)
- ISBN-10: 0399133631
- ISBN-13: 978-0399133633
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.7 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The work of this brilliant Australian writer seems to be gaining ground rapidly here, and none too soon. These are two of her finest works, both short novels of about 140 pages each, and originally published in 1974 and 1972 respectively. As before, they are set in Queensland, Australia's tropical north country, and are written in the highly wrought, intensely poetic style that has become her hallmark, and that dazzles far more often than it confuses. Otherwise, they are almost totally different in time and psychology. A Kindness Cup tells of a small Queensland town in the last century, and of the day when a group of whites massacred some local blacks and took a terrible revenge on one of their own who had befriended them. Twenty years later, amid the self-congratulations of a civic reunion, a former schoolmaster tries to remind the town of its gruesome pastwith all too convincingly horrifying results. The Acolyte is entirely contemporary: the story of a blind pianist-composer who rises to fame on the self-sacrifice and devotion of two womenand the narrator, whose mixture of envy and clearsightedness is chillingly conveyed. Astley is as apt at evoking a cynical 20th century artistic milieu as she is in bringing to smoldering life a long-ago provincial town. She is a writer of astonishing gifts, whose every newly available work is a discovery.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
These short Australian novels, award winners first published in the 1970s, appear here in their first U.S. edition. A Kindness Cup finds Mr. Dorahy, an aging and bitter schoolteacher, returning to the town he fled two decades before, driven by memory to seek redress for an atrocity the inhabitants want buried. In The Acolyte a blind musical genius draws an admirer into lifelong servitude to his talent, creating a mutual dependency more crippling than any physical handicap. Quirky, strong-willed characters and a lyrical sense of place give these explorations of the human condition special appeal. For large fiction collections. Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two novels with similar themes but markedly different styles, Dec 21 2003
By Mary Whipple - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Two by Astley: A Kindness Cup/the Acolyte (Hardcover)
Two of Thea Astley's early, prize-winning novels are presented in one volume which should please both new readers and long-time fans. A Kindness Cup, which received the Australian Book of the Year Award in 1974, focuses on the evolution of a small outback town, from a place ruled by entrenched and narrow-minded elders who define their own "justice," to a more civilized community which recognizes change. A former teacher returns for a homecoming celebration twenty years after brutal events showed him the evil within the hearts of the town's rulers. Here he confronts his own role in the events and attempts to avenge the wrongs done to an old friend.The Acolyte, which won the Miles Franklin Award in 1972, focuses on the influence of a blind pianist and composer on those who admire and work for him, "the yes-men who can't do a thing ourselves." As the young "acolyte" finds himself becoming middle-aged, still in the thrall of a demanding and insensitive artist, Astley raises questions of independence vs. dependence and the factors which make some people willing to subordinate themselves to others.
Both novels illustrate the great difficulty many people have in separating themselves from those with influence and power, whether that be the result of sociological pressures, as in A Kindness Cup or the result of someone's personal magnetism, as in The Acolyte. In both novels disasters occur because of a main character's weakness or helplessness. But whereas A Kindness Cup is dramatic, excruciatingly tense, and plot-driven, The Acolyte is more character-driven and philosophical, sometimes satirical, and full of religious symbolism. In this pair of novels, the reader sees Astley handling a wide variety of narrative styles, developing complex themes within concise limits, and peppering her narratives with dialogue ranging from colloquial to formally elegant. An excellent introduction to the immense talents of this Australian novelist. Mary Whipple
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