Gossip from the Forest
Gossip from the Forest is a 1975 novel by the Australian author Thomas Keneally which deals with the negotiations surrounding the ending of World War I.[1]
Subject matter
"In Gossip from the Forest, Keneally offered a concentrated fictional presentation of the peace talks that took place in the Forest of Compiègne in November 1918, focusing on the highest-ranking German negotiator, Mattias Erzberger, a liberal pacifist.
Critical reception
According to the New York Times Book Review's Paul Fussell, Gossip from the Forest 'is a study of the profoundly civilian and pacific sensibility beleaguered by crude power.... it is absorbing, and as history it achieves the kind of significance earned only by sympathy acting on deep knowledge.'
Robert E. McDowell in "World Literature Today" concluded that 'with Gossip from the Forest Keneally has succeeded better than in any of his previous books in lighting the lives of historical figures and in convincing us that people are really the events of history.'"[2]
Notes
- "Dedication: To My Father."
- "Author's note: In the season in which this book was written, the French government persisted in exploding nuclear devices above the ocean where my children swim."
Awards and nominations
- Man Booker Prize: shortlisted 1975[3]
- FAW Barbara Ramsden Award for the Book of the Year, 1975: joint winner[4]
Adaptations
- "Screenplay", Season 1, Episode 1, UK television adaptation. This first screened on 19 July 1979. The teleplay was written and directed by Brian Gibson, and featured Ray Armstrong, Hugh Burden, David Calder, and Paul Clayton.[5]
- Theatre Adaptation by Sydney Theatre Company. The play premiered on 5 May 1983.[1]
External links
- Book review by Danny Yee [1]
References
- v
- t
- e
- The Place at Whitton (1964)
- The Fear (1965)
- Bring Larks and Heroes (1967)
- Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968)
- The Survivor (1969)
- A Dutiful Daughter (1971)
- The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972)
- Blood Red, Sister Rose (1974)
- Moses the Lawgiver (1975)
- Gossip from the Forest (1975)
- Season in Purgatory (1976)
- A Victim of the Aurora (1977)
- Passenger (1979)
- Confederates (1979)
- The Cut-Rate Kingdom (1980)
- Schindler's Ark (1982)
- A Family Madness (1985)
- The Playmaker (1987)
- Act of Grace (1988)
- By the Line (1989)
- Towards Asmara (1989)
- Flying Hero Class (1991)
- Chief of Staff (1991)
- Woman of the Inner Sea (1993)
- Jacko: The Great Intruder (1993)
- A River Town (1995)
- Bettany's Book (2000)
- An Angel in Australia (2000)
- The Tyrant's Novel (2003)
- The Widow and Her Hero (2007)
- The People's Train (2009)
- The Daughters of Mars (2012)
- Shame and the Captives (2014)
- Napoleon's Last Island (2015)
- Crimes of the Father (2016)
- The Soldier's Curse (2016)
- The Unmourned (2017)
- The Power Game (2018)
- Two Old Men Dying (2018)
- The Ink Stain (2019)
- The Dickens Boy (2020)
- Corporal Hitler's Pistol (2021)
- Fanatic Heart (2022)
This article about a World War I novel first published in the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
- v
- t
- e