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WANTING
by FLANAGAN, RICHARD
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/FINE
- ISBN 10
- 080211900X
- ISBN 13
- 9780802119001
- Seller
-
Harlingen, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
USA: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING, 2009. 1ST EDITION. HARDCOVER. FINE/FINE. USA: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING, 2009. 1ST EDITION. FINE/FINE. USA: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING, 2009. 1ST EDITION. FINE/FINE. USA: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING, 2009. 1ST EDITION. FINE/FINE. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2009. Hard Cover. Book Condition:FINE. Dust Jacket Condition: FINE. 1st American Edition/1st Printing (complete number line), not remaindered, not bookclub, not library, unmarked, unread, mylar cover, unclipped jacket. 1ST PRINTING
Synopsis
"A Knopf book."-- tp. verso.
Reviews
On Jan 25 2016, CloggieDownunder said:
Wanting is the fifth novel by award-winning Australian author, Richard Flanagan. In 1841, Mathinna, an orphaned young Aboriginal girl, one of the remaining Van Diemen's Land indigenous who were kept on Flinders Island, was plucked from the "care" of George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, to become the subject of an experiment in civilisation of the savage, conducted by the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin.
Mathinna loved the red silk dress she was given, but hated wearing shoes. She wanted to learn to write because she knew there was magic in it. "Dear Father, I am a good little girl. I do love my father. ……come and see mee my father. ……I have got sore feet and shoes and stockings and I am very glad……..Please sir come back from the hunt. I am here yrs daughter MATHINNA". But when her (dead) father failed to come to her after several letters, her passion for writing faded. "And when she discovered her letters stashed in a pale wooden box….she felt not the pain of deceit for which she had no template, but the melancholy of disillusionment".
In tandem with Mathinna's story, Flanagan relates incidents in the life of Charles Dickens, some twenty years later. The tenuous link between the two narratives is this: when Sir John Franklin is missing in the Arctic on his search for the North West Passage, Lady Jane asks Dickens to help refute allegations of cannibalism made by explorer, Dr John Rae. Dickens also writes and stars in a play about Franklin's lost expedition, during which he meets Ellen Ternan, the woman for whom he leaves his wife.
Flanagan's interpretation of Mathinna's life is certainly interesting: his extensive research into the lifestyle and common practices in the colony in the mid-nineteenth century is apparent, and he portrays very powerfully the mindset that led to the virtual extermination of the native population. While the Dickens narrative does have interesting aspects, it is so far removed from the Tasmanian story as to seem somewhat irrelevant, more of an interruption than an enhancement.
Flanagan states in his Author's Note that "The stories of Mathinna and Dickens, with their odd but undeniable connection, suggested to me a meditation on desire-the cost of its denial, the centrality and force of its power in human affairs. That, and not history, is the true subject of Wanting". Perhaps this statement would be better placed in a preface so that readers do not find themselves distracted wondering about the relevance of the Dickens narrative. Excellent prose make this, nonetheless, a powerful read.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MySEABooks
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- S1806
- Title
- WANTING
- Author
- FLANAGAN, RICHARD
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- FINE
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1ST EDITION
- ISBN 10
- 080211900X
- ISBN 13
- 9780802119001
- Publisher
- ATLANTIC PUBLISHING
- Place of Publication
- USA
- Date Published
- 2009
- Bookseller catalogs
- FICTION,LITERATURE;
- Product_type
- BOOKS
Terms of Sale
MySEABooks
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
MySEABooks
Biblio member since 2017
Harlingen, Texas
About MySEABooks
My SEA Marketplace was created to offer our customers the opportunity to purchase very collectible antiquarian and collectible books. The bulk of our inventory comes from our personal collection amassed over several decades of collecting. We always try to undervalue and carefully rate our products in order to create happy and loyal customers. We are always available to answer questions and assist our customers in every way. If for some reason a customer is unhappy upon receipt of an item we stand 100% behind our goods and will quickly and cheerfully refund our customers money. We are always thrilled to place our items with customers who will treasure them as we do. For the discerning collector My SEA Marketplace is the place to shop.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...