Other editions of book Kangaroo

After the Great War, Richard Lovat Somers, a writer, and Harriet, his wife, leave disillusioned Europe for Australia. There Somers falls into the company of charismatic fascist ‘Kangaroo’. The young writer struggles with his past and his personal ideology as he finds himself in a deadly tug-of-war between the mesmerising Kangaroo and the feisty communist Willies Struthers. With its astonishing descriptions of the bush ‘biding its time with a terrible ageless watchfulness’, and its free-form narrative, Kangaroo captivates and provokes.

Kangaroo is a semi-autobiographical novel by D. H. Lawrence. It follows a British writer on his visit to New South Wales. In it there are vivid descriptions of the Australian countryside and a powerful glimpse into a wartime Cornwall. Lawrence delves deeply into his thoughts on relationship, power and the people of Australia. Perhaps Lawrence's finest, if not most accessible, novel. "One of the sharpest fictional visions of the country [Australia] and its people."--Gideon Haigh

Kangaroo is a semi-autobiographical novel by D. H. Lawrence. It follows a British writer on his visit to New South Wales. In it there are vivid descriptions of the Australian countryside and a powerful glimpse into a wartime Cornwall. Lawrence delves deeply into his thoughts on relationship, power and the people of Australia. Perhaps Lawrence's finest, if not most accessible, novel. "One of the sharpest fictional visions of the country [Australia] and its people."--Gideon Haigh

Kangaroo is a tale of a visit to New South Wales by an English writer named Richard Lovat Somers and his German wife Harriet in the early 1920s. "Kangaroo" is the nickname of Benjamin Cooley, a prominent ex-soldier and lawyer, who is also the leader of a secretive, fascist paramilitary organisation, the "Diggers Club". Cooley fascinates Somers, but he maintains his distance from the movement itself. The novel is autobiographical, based on a three-month visit to Australia by D. H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda, in 1922.

Kangaroo is an account of a visit to New South Wales by an English writer named Richard Lovat Somers and his German wife Harriet in the early 1920s. This appears to be semi-autobiographical, based on a three-month visit to Australia by Lawrence and his wife Frieda, in 1922. The novel includes a chapter ("Nightmare") describing the Somers' experiences in wartime St Ives, Cornwall, vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape, and Richard Somers' sceptical reflections on fringe politics in Sydney. Kangaroo's movement, and the "great general emotion" of Kangaroo himself, do not appeal to Somers, and in this the novel begins to reflect Lawrence's own experiences during World War I. Somers also rejects the socialism of Struthers, which emphasises "generalised love".

Rootless, restless, nomadic, longing to escape the decay of post-war Europe, Richard and Harriet Somers flee to Australia, hoping to begin a new and freer life. Richard, a disillusioned writer, is drawn into an extreme political group headed by the enigmatic Kangaroo. In his search for ideal love, both brotherly and personal, Somers finds himself both attracted and repelled by Kangaroo – with terrifying consequences. This is D. H. Lawrence’s eighth novel, set in Australia. He wrote the first draft in just forty-five days while living south of Sydney and revised it three months later in New Mexico. The descriptions of the country are vivid and sympathetic and the book fuses lightly disguised autobiography with an exploration of political ideas at an immensely personal level.A bunch of workmen were lying on the grass of the park beside Macquarie Street, in the dinner hour. It was winter, the end of May, but the sun was warm, and they lay there in shirt–sleeves, talking. Some were eating food from paper packages. They were a mixed lot—taxi–drivers, a group of builders who were putting a new inside into one of the big houses opposite, and then two men in blue overalls, some sort of mechanics. Squatting and lying on the grassy bank beside the broad tarred road where taxis and hansom cabs passed continually, they had that air of owning the city which belongs to a good Australian.

Kangaroo is an account of a visit to New South Wales by an English writer named Richard Lovat Somers, and his German wife Harriet, in the early 1920s. This appears to be semi-autobiographical, based on a three-month visit to Australia by Lawrence and his wife Frieda, in 1922.The novel includes a chapter ("Nightmare") describing the Somers' experiences in wartime Cornwall (St Columb Major), vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape, and Richard Somers' sceptical reflections on fringe politics in Sydney.Australian journalist Robert Darroch — in several articles in the late 1970s, and a 1981 book entitled D.H. Lawrence in Australia — claimed that Lawrence based Kangaroo on real people and events he witnessed in Australia. The extent to which this is true remains a matter of controversy - particularly by Joseph Davis in his 1989 "D.H. Lawrence at Thirroul"(Collins, Sydney). Davis is sympathetic to the view that "Kangaroo" may be based on real events but argues that it is impossible that Lawrence had time to meet clandestine political leaders in Sydney when he was too busy writing his novel in Thirroul. Davis feels it is more likely to have been a local south coast identity associated with Thirroul who would have provided some of the details of Lawrence's political plot."Kangaroo" is the fictional nickname of one of Lawrence's characters, Benjamin Cooley, a prominent ex-soldier and lawyer, who is also the leader of a secretive, fascist paramilitary organisation, the "Diggers Club". Cooley fascinates Somers, but he maintains his distance from the movement itself. It has been suggested by Darroch and others that Cooley was based on Major General Charles Rosenthal, a notable World War I leader and right wing activist. It has also been alleged that Rosenthal was involved with the Old Guard, a secret anti-communist militia, set up by the Bruce government.Similarly, according to Darroch, the character of Jack Calcott — who is the Somers' neighbour in Sydney and introduces Richard Somers to Cooley — may have been based on a controversial Australian military figure, Major John Scott, who was both an associate of Rosenthal, and an Old Guard official.Another central character is Willie Struthers, a left wing activist reputed to have been based partly on Willem Siebenhaar, who made Lawrence's acquaintance in Western Australia.Kangaroo's movement, and the "great general emotion" of Kangaroo himself, do not appeal to Somers, and in this the novel begins to reflect Lawrence's own experiences during World War I. Somers also rejects the socialism of Struthers, which emphasises "generalised love".The novel is sometimes cited as an influence on the Jindyworobak movement, an Australian nationalist literary group, which emerged about a decade later. Gideon Haigh saw fit to dub it "one of the sharpest fictional visions of the country and its people".It was adapted as a film, also called Kangaroo in 1986, featuring Colin Friels as Somers, Judy Davis as Harriet and Hugh Keays-Byrne as "Kangaroo".

Kangaroo by D. H. Lawrence. English writer Richard Lovat Somers seeks broader horizons than those of fading post-war Europe, and so, with his wife Harriet, he travels to Australia to discover for himself the people and the way of life in this vast land of opportunity. All too quickly, however, the Somers are caught up in an urgent battle for the political future of Australia. Richard struggles with his past and his personal ideology as he finds himself in a deadly tug-of-war between the mesmerising fascist Kangaroo and the feisty communist Willies Struthers. In this semi-autobiography novel, Lawrence express his own gospel of personal integrity, and with vivid insight penetrates the realities and illusions of the Australian outlook – its gusty individuality, its self-conscious democracy, its open-heartedness and its volatile resentments.