Great Authors is a fortnightly feature I have started to discuss my favourite authors.
I was introduced to Richard Flanagan in a rather unusual way. A lovely woman at work lent me a book to read, The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. This is a seriously unusual book and one of my favourites of all time. What does this have to do with Richard Flanagan you ask?
Well, in The Raw Shark Texts, the characters make reference to 'Gould's Book of Fish'. I didn't realise until after I had finished The Raw Shark Texts that Gould's Book of Fish is in fact a real book written by Australian author Richard Flanagan. A friend of mine had read the book and recommended it to me. I loved The Raw Shark Texts and knew that Flanagan was an Australian (from Tasmania) and so I decided to give Gould's Book of Fish a read.
(I should perhaps say at this point that the two books are unrelated to each other. Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan is very different to the 'Gould's Book of Fish' referred to in The Raw Shark Texts).
Anyway, I found Gould's Book of Fish am amazing book. It was so well written, so real and so complex. It had a twist at the end like no other twist that I have ever read; one that leaves you questioning the reality of everything that you have just read. Is it real? I raved about this book for a long time and couldn't then help but read many of his others. I have read and own the following books by Flanagan:
He has other well-known books, not least of which is Death of a River Guide, which I have not read yet but fully intend to whenever I get the chance.
Flanagan has won so many awards for his literature over the years and in my view (for what it's worth) deservedly. I can't put his books down. They are so vivid and well written; I think Flanagan has a very individual style of writing. The characters and the scenery draw you into the story to the point where you almost can't get yourself out again. The stories are often so bleak, particularly The Sound of One Hand Clapping, and yet there is always hope under the surface. Flanagan doesn't shy away from displaying the darker side of human existence.
If I were to be honest, I would have to say that The Unknown Terrorist would have to be an exception to my love of Flanagan's works (at least the one's that I have read). I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this one. It is very different to his other novels, and I felt like it had solely been written to convey a political message.
Having said that, what I love about Flanagan as an author is his passion. I have seen Flanagan give talks on several occasions, I think I may have seen two or three times at the Sydney Writers Festival 2009, and I also saw him give reviews when I was a studio audience member at the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club studio filming. I think it was at the Writers Festival that someone mentioned the criticism he received for The Unknown Terrorist, and he accepted that he received criticism for it, but said that it was something that he had to write for himself. Despite my personal reaction to the book, I admire him for that.
He has also been very actively critical of the issue of territorial copyright, an issue that has been prominent in the Australian media of late. I really admire Flanagan's stance on the issue, and I found his closing address, entitled "Losing Our Voice" at the Sydney Writers Festival 2009 very inspiring.
You can read his closing address here if you are interested.
I highly recommend this speech to all book lovers - whether you know much about the issue of territorial copyright or not, his passion for the written work is contagious.
So, that is Richard Flanagan, one of the best Australian authors there is, in my humble opinion, for what it's worth. I hope that this introduces more people to Flanagan's books.
Originally posted 26 January 2010
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