Wanting
by Flanagan, Richard
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 184887071X
- ISBN 13
- 9781848870710
- Seller
-
Naas, Kildare, Ireland
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London, United Kingdom: Atlantic Books, 2009. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. First UK Edition, First Printing. A True UK first edition, first printing (first impression) with no statement of reprint to the copyright page therefore indicating a true first print in a near fine Dust Jacket. Unread copy with slight softening to the crown and base of the spine. Signed by Richard flanagan to the title page..
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
- Kelleher Rare Books (IE)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 006701
- Title
- Wanting
- Author
- Flanagan, Richard
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 184887071X
- ISBN 13
- 9781848870710
- Publisher
- Atlantic Books
- Place of Publication
- London, United Kingdom
- Date Published
- 2009
- Keywords
- WANTING,FLANAGAN, RICHARD,FIRST EDITION, SIGNED
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Kelleher Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Kelleher Rare Books
Biblio member since 2011
Naas, Kildare
About Kelleher Rare Books
Modern Literature, Irish, English, American,Modern first edition, first print signed fiction historical fiction, literary fiction, children's books, sci-fi, crime fiction fantasy fiction.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Jacket
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- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.