Peter Carey

Early in his New World life, New York University hired him to teach creative writing – a position he still holds. Throughout the 90’s he continued to publish a new novel about every three years – "The Tax Man" (1991), "The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith" (1994) and "Jack Maggs" (1997). With "The Big Bazoohley" (1995) he made a smooth transition into writing for children. Two more scripts – "Dead End Drive" (1986) and "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997) and still more awards – the second Age Book of the Year Award (1994) and in 1997 both the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and, for the third time, the Miles Franklin Award rounded out the 20th Century.

For any writer – even himself - Carey would be a hard act to follow, but the 21st century had barely begun when his most widely acclaimed book yet – "The True Story of the Kelly Gang" (2000)– appeared and, once again he was the recipient of the Booker Prize (2001). “I had the ridiculous ambition to tell my country’s great story – and I think I have done it.” Not everyone agrees. There are, admits Carey, people who are very passionate about Ned Kelly. Occasionally one of them will send him an abusive letter. He denies that his sympathetic portrayal of Kelly is, in any way, “revisionist”. “I think this is how most Australians feel about Ned Kelly”.

His is not simply a story of Wild West banditry, but a more complex tale involving love and heart-wrenching loss. “As a novelist you can imagine and produce a substantial story out of it. I’m not changing feelings, simply imagining how it was.”

But it takes more than imagination to make a good novel. Before he wrote this one, Carey returned to his roots. “There were good reasons to go to Australia” he says – “the landscape, the topography, the air that Ned Kelly breathed.” He traveled with friends extensively, absorbing the atmosphere, talking to people, gathering details to make the book real. “The most important research was being there,” says Carey – and talking the tale through over and over. “We discussed it every day – all day long”

And it worked. Carey created a powerful story that resonated with his loyal – and his new - readers as well as the critics.

At the heart of his – and all – great writing is the ability to make the reader care - about the characters or the topic at hand. Carey has a master’s touch for this in his fiction – but not only there. His non-fiction is equally compelling whether it relies on his subtle, ironic humor as does 30 Days in Sydney: "A Wildly Distorted Account" or takes a more serious vein as did his commentary after the September 11th attacks.
“I didn’t want to write about that event” he says, but a combination of urging from his publisher and his very personal involvement – “my wife was in the building when the plane hit” –overcame his reluctance. “Emotionally upsetting events” he says “are, in a rather weird way easy to write because you write (directly) from life. Fiction requires a deeper wider source”.

With the vast continent nation as his source, Peter Carey has not even begun to exhaust the possibilities. Nor has he resolved the built-in conflicts involved in living abroad while being the quintessential Australia writer. “I’m always uneasy about not being there. If I were I would be more involved in social and political issues. I know why I should be there.” But it is preciously in not being there that he is able to get some perspective on Australia – to, as he put it “see the strangeness” and out of this strangeness to rediscover and reinvent his country for himself and his wide and enthusiastic public.

Breandáin O'Shea