宅男导航

Alex Miller: The Ruin of Time is the first sole-authored critical survey of the respected Australian novelist鈥檚 eleven novels. While these books are immediately accessible to the general reading public, they are manifestly works of high literary seriousness 鈥� substantial, technically masterful and assured, intricately interconnected, and of great imaginative, intellectual and ethical weight.

Among his many prizes and awards, Alex Miller has twice won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, for The Ancestor Game in 1993, and Journey to the Stone Country in 2003; the Commonwealth Writers鈥� prize, also for The Ancestor Game in 1993; and the New South Wales Premier鈥檚 Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize, for Conditions of Faith in 2001 and Lovesong in 2011. He received a Centenary Medal in 2001 and the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2012. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Having published his eleventh novel, Coal Creek, in 2013 鈥� which won the Victorian Premier鈥檚 Fiction Award in 2014 鈥� Miller is currently writing an autobiographical memoir with the working title Horizons.

Robert Dixon is professor of Australian literature at the University of 宅男导航. He is a general editor in 宅男导航鈥� 宅男导航 Studies in Australian Literature series.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

1. Unravelling the change: The Tivington Nott and Watching the Climbers on the Mountain
2. Multiple modernities: The Ancestor Game
3. Black mirror: The Sitters
4. The iron world: Conditions of Faith
5. The central Queensland novels: Journey to the Stone Country
6. The third hand: Prochownik鈥檚 Dream
7. The central Queensland novels: Landscape of Farewell
8. The economy of gift: Lovesong
9. Eye of the storm: Autumn Laing

'In Dixon, Miller finds a reader of generosity, curiosity, intelligence and grace, one who in turn opens the work for others鈥� access and consideration. Alex Miller: The Ruin of Time enacts the lucid reading Celan hopes for, and offers its readers, in turn, illumination.'
Felicity Plunkett   Southerly

'顿颈虫辞苍鈥檚 Alex Miller is a sustained and impressive appreciation of an Australian novelist who, although much decorated, and despite his considerable skills as an actor and public performer, remains a more elusive figure than his contemporaries Tom Keneally and Peter Carey.'
Peter Pierce   The Australian

'This 鈥榗ritical survey鈥� is recommended for teachers as 鈥榓 reliable and stimulating point of reference鈥� and to students who can cope with the language demands of a complex and sophisticated text.'
Leisa Harvey   mETAphor

'Despite its many immediate rewards The Ruin of Time is a book that will have a long shelf-life. It is not (of course) the final word on Alex Miller, but due to its compendious nature it will become the 鈥榞o to鈥� source for future readers or critics looking to navigate his body of work. It is thoughtful, knowledgeable, studious, engaging and entertaining, and in writing it Dixon has further enhanced both his own reputation and that of his subject.'
Paul Genoni   Journal of Australian Studies

'The concept of 鈥榯he ruin of time,鈥� Dixon鈥檚 overarching thematic and critical approach, is woven into his analysis of all eleven novels. His ability to extract different resonances from this idea, particularly in his discussion of some of Miller鈥檚 most memorable images or scenes, such as the decaying homestead in Journey to the Stone Country, is a testament to Dixon鈥檚 precise and detailed knowledge of the writer.'
Joe Cummins   Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL)

'Dixon maps the expanses of Miller鈥檚 thought 鈥� the 鈥渋ntellectual achievement鈥� of the fiction 鈥� with precision and understanding ... It is heartening to read a critical work of such scope and acuity, and important for the future of Australian literature that publishers such as 宅男导航 continue to be so committed to Australian criticism.鈥�
Brenda Walker   Australian Book Review

Format: paperback
Size: 250 脳 176 mm
248 pages
Copyright: © 2014
ISBN: 9781743324073
Publication: 26 Aug 2014
Series: 宅男导航 Studies in Australian Literature