The Kwinkan
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
The Kwinkan is a satirical parable surrounding a mysterious narrator who is part-politician, part Queensland property developer, and the forces at work in the Asia-Pacific region. It deals with international corporatism, political ambitions in an age of decaying colonialism, the clashes of competing mythologies, and the play of the dark, atavistic powers which manifest themselves in sexual disease and violence. These forces act on the characters, sometimes to unite strange bedfellows and at other times to sever connections either at a personal or national level.
PRAISE FOR MUDROOROO'S PREVIOUS NOVELS
'[Wildcat Screaming is] full of insight into the nature of man inside and outside of institutions and the sources of strength into which people dip in order to maintain hope and to survive.' - Roberta Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald
'Master of the Ghost Dreaming is a real page-turner. The prose is lyrical, yet simple, the images rich and ironic... an exciting, moving and engaging novel.' - Sophie Masson, Australian Book Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The unnamed narrator of this wry and witty satire by Australian Aborigine novelist Mudrooroo ( Master of the Ghost Dreaming ) is an avaricious businessman, a failed politician and a bungling diplomat-cum-spy. Reduced to a clerk's job in Canberra, he sees everyone as conspiring against him. When a writer, gathering information for a biography of Aborigine detective Dr. Watson Holmes Jackamara, comes to interview him, the narrator can't resist pouring out the story of his life and the plots against him. After losing his bid for the legislature, he is sent to a tiny South Pacific island group about to gain its independence from Great Britain. His mission is to gather intelligence, to act as a counterweight to a no-nonsense businesswoman named Miss Tamada, whose Japanese corporation is making considerable inroads there, and to position Australia as the new power in the region. Unfortunately, things go awry from the beginning when the narrator fabricates a ridiculous cover story for his presence. To complicate matters further, he falls for the beautiful but depraved Carla, a member of the colony's rather barmy ruling family. This novel is a romp that disarmingly takes on the forces of neo-colonialism shaping the Pacific today.
