1990
Flinders University of South Australia
Centre for New Literatures in English
and the English Discipline
Notes for Teachers of English Studies
Fly Away Peter
by David Malouf
First published by Chatto and Windus, 1982.
The Novel
Fly Away Peter is set in Queensland just before 1914. It concerns two young men in contrasting circumstances. Ashley Crowther, after receiving an English public school and Cambridge education, has returned to manage the family estates that he has solely inherited. He leads a life of cultured comfort. His house is the centre of weekend activity with visiting artists and aesthetes. By chance he meets Jim Saddler, a young local his own age who is an experienced birdwatcher. In a moment of rather grand patronage, Crowther hires Jim to record the activities of the birdlife on the property. While out compiling his “lists” Jim meets an Englishwoman, Imogen Harcourt, a photographer with whom he develops a close bond. It is a spiritual, intuitive friendship founded on an unarticulated love of nature.
But 1914 is an inauspicious year for young men. Swept up by the inevitabilty of war, Ashley and Jim both enlist. In France Jim shares ranks with Clancy Parkett, an outgoing fellow whom he looks upon as almost an alter ego to his own reticent nature. In the farm country of Armentiers, amidst migratory bird life he recognises, Jim enters the horrific trench warfare which is to kill and maim all those around him,including Clancy . He is to meet Ashley several times in France and on the third time, Jim, who is lying in the casualty tent, is apparently led by Ashley out into the open air where he is greeted by Clancy and along with many others, begins digging the fresh-smelling earth. Jim has died of wounds and these have been images from his fading consciousness. Back in Australia Imogen Harcourt grieves the loss of her kindred spirit.
The Author
David Malouf was born in Brisbane in 1934. His father’s family come from the Lebanon, his mother’s from England. After studying at the University of Queensland, he went abroad where, apart from a ten year stint lecturing at Sydney University, he has lived and written ever since.In recent years he has been based in Tuscany.
Malouf’s first published work was an edition of poetry, Bicycle and Other Poems in 1971. He has published five volumes of verse in all. His first novel, Johnno, appeared in 1975. Other novels and collections of stories include An Imaginary Life, Child’s Play, Harland’s Half Acre, and Antipodes. His latest novel, The Great World was published in February of this year. He has also written a selection of memoirs entitled 12 Edmondstone Street. He has received numerous distinguished awards for his fiction.
Suggestions for Pairing Fly Away Peter with Other Works
Firstly, links can be made with some of Malouf’s other writing. Queensland, and Brisbane in particular, is the setting for Johnno and the title piece in 12 Edmondstone Street. The dating of Fly Away Peter is earlier but links can still be usefully made.
Equally important are the themes of male friendship and the notions of time and memory. The two men Jim and Ashley have echoes in the relationship between Johnno and his narrator and most recently in the bond between Digger and Vic in The Great World.( This book, set in the Second World War and in Changi Prison in particular,is the closest in of any of his work in themes and tone) .The place of memory and the imagined life is prevalent in much of Malouf’s work including Fly away Peter, The Great World and, as the title of his account of the exiled Roman poet Ovid suggests, An Imaginary Life.
Other works set during the First World War could be useful. Wilfred Owen’s poetry and diaries for instance and Robert Graves’ Goodbye to All That. We Will Not Cease, the memoir by the New Zealand conscientious objector, Archibald Baxter, which has been recently re-issued by Australian Penguin would also be a relevant extension text. Roger McDonald’s 1915 is also recommended. The Australian films, Break of Day written by Cliff Green and Gallipoli scripted by David Williamson (and also the basis for Jack Bennett’s novel Gallipoli) would provide both comparison and contrast.
Selected Further Reading
Baker,C. Yacker. Picador, Sydney. 1986.( Malouf interview.)
Copeland, Julie. “Interview with David Malouf”, ALS, X pp.429-36.
Gelder,K. and Salzman, P. The New Diversity. McPhee Gribble, Melbourne, 1989.( pp. 142-147 discussion of Malouf’s fiction.)
Pierce, Peter. “David Malouf’s Fiction”. Meanjin, XLI,pp.526-34.
Reviews of Fly Away Peter
A. Brownjohn, TLS, 15 Oct, ’82, p.1141.
L.Clancy, Australian Book Review, No.44, pp 24-5.
J.Davidson, SMH, 25 Sept,82.p.34.
R.Haupt, Age Saturday Extra, Nov 20,82.p.12.
P.Rolphe, Bulletin, Oct 19,82. pp.98-9.
Reviews of The Great World
M.Bramwell, Adelaide Review, Festival Issue, 1990.
G.Windsor, ABR, March, 1990
Reviews of Fly Away Peter
A. Brownjohn, TLS, 15 Oct, ’82, p.1141.
L.Clancy, Meanjin, XLI, pp.526-34