Tara June Winch
Autor von The Yield
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Wie rote Erde: Roman (German Edition) 1 Exemplar
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Wissenswertes
- Gebräuchlichste Namensform
- Winch, Tara June
- Geburtstag
- 1983-12-02
- Geschlecht
- female
- Nationalität
- Australia
- Geburtsort
- Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
- Wohnorte
- Paris, France
New York, New York, USA - Ausbildung
- University of Wollongong
- Berufe
- writer
- Preise und Auszeichnungen
- Miles Franklin Award (2020)
- Kurzbiographie
- Tara June Winch is an indigenous Australian, of the Wiradjuri people.
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Statistikseite
- Werke
- 5
- Auch von
- 6
- Mitglieder
- 533
- Beliebtheit
- #46,708
- Bewertung
- 3.9
- Rezensionen
- 25
- ISBNs
- 45
- Sprachen
- 3
The Yield is superb. Three separate stories take place, connected in a thousand different ways. There's August, a young woman returning to Australia in the early 21st century after several years abroad, to a past she has consciously left behind. There's her dying grandfather, some time earlier, writing a dictionary of the forgotten words of his (Indigenous) people. And there's a 19th century missionary who finds himself the only defender of those same people against an unforgiving populace.
Winch's novel has much to recommend it. (My review is 4.5 stars, but in this case I'm bumping up rather than down due to the sheer force of the novel's compassion.) First, there is her writing style: clear, focused, intrigued by the most minute details, shifting the narrative voice in unison with its characters. The subtle intricacies of the novel deserve mention too, with the concepts from Poppy's dictionary resonating through both the past and present. August still holds out some tendrils of hope for a sister who went missing when they were children; Poppy, unbeknownst to her, seeks his own answers. Reverend Greenleaf attempts to be the saviour of a culture; to August and her family in the present day, he is equally villainous as those he fought against. The Reverend's awakening to the brutality against the Wiradjuri people in the 19th century reflects through Poppy's reminiscences of his awakening to his own culture in the 20th century, which is then reflected in August's attempts to salvage a little of that in the 21st. Winch's plurality of voices also leaves open the possibility of re-interpretation. For example, I don't think Greenleaf is as bad as August does, but then I bring my own biases to the text too.
At the heart of the book, Winch seems to be asking not how do we protect the artifacts of culture (words, letters, tools, much loved homes with chintzy decor) but how we protect the culture underneath? What obligations do each of us have as individuals to our broader clan? And how do we regain what has already been lost? A novel in which one-third of the book is an old man compiling a dictionary sounds inherently dull, but these sections radiate with warmth and heartbreak. I grew up in Wiradjuri country and my eyes lit up when I saw the map on the first page, excited to return to the dusty world of my youth. Winch captures it well, true, but she is also laying bare an entire culture that had existed alongside mine, in my culture's shadow, as it were, and this poignancy imbues every page.
(On a lighter note, the fact that the Australian Winch has lived in Europe for many years, and has an international writing presence, adds a humorous tone for me in her portrayal of some of the details. While the modern-day chapters of the novel are written with descriptive verisimilitude, Winch has to think of her international audience, and thus chooses to over-define such concepts as Aussie Rules, Vegemite, and Lip Smackers. It's a smart choice, and I think it will help protect The Yield against becoming dated. But as someone who grew up in the same time and place as August, I couldn't help but chortle at the narrator in these moments!)
Well worth it.… (mehr)