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The Tree Of Man

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Posted on June 11, 2004 at 20:25:18
Hergest Ridge
 I'm talking to myself but i want to be the first. What better introduction to a new forum than the opening paragraphs of my favourite novel. The Tree Of Man by Patrick White:

A cart drove between the two big stringybarks and stopped. These were the dominant trees in that part of the bush, rising above the involved scrub with the simplicity of true grandeur. So the cart stopped, grazing the side of a hairy tree, and the horse, shaggy and stolid as the tree sighed and took root.
The man who sat in the cart got down. He rubbed his hands together, because already it was cold, a curdle of cold cloud in a pale sky, and copper in the west. On the air you could smell the frost. As the man rubbed his hands, the friction of cold skin intensified the coldness of the air and the solitude of that place. Birds looked from twigs, and the eyes of animals were drawn to what was happening. The man lifting a bundle from a cart. A dog lifting his leg on an anthill. The lip drooping on the sweaty horse.

Lovely stuff.

Regards
Paul

 

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Re: The Tree Of Man, posted on June 22, 2004 at 04:25:37
Zakalwe


 
Interesting... I grew up in the city where P.W. lived most of his life & I've come across a few people who met him (including my mum). He was generally considered an irascible old b*stard, & not much loved except by Manoly.
I've never been able to finish one of his works, yet the passage you quote is, indeed, lovely. Maybe now I'm older & more patient I'll give his writings another try.

Z

 

Re: The Tree Of Man, posted on June 23, 2004 at 01:12:28
Hergest Ridge
 G'day,
I first came to Sydney in 1987 for a short trip and some time later when i was back in England i was browsing through the very end shelves in a bookshop and came across half a dozen Patrick White novels. I vaguely remembered his name from my trip to Australia and so bought Voss as it looked an interesting story. I adored it despite the sometimes rather dense writing and over the next few years i read everything he had written and found it all superb. The Tree Of Man really struck a chord with me for whatever reason.
After quite a few journies to Australia over the next 5 years i managed to emigrate in 1992 and after a 2 month travel around settled in Sydney. I work as a fencer and one of the first jobs i got was up in Castle Hill just around the corner from Dogwoods where he and Manoly lived before their move to Centennial Park. I went round to the house which still stands in a small subdivision which if i remeber bears his name and Nobel Court after his Nobel prize. It was wonderful to see what i had imagined for some time on the other side of the world.
His reputation as a grumpy old sod i think was well deserved. David Marrs biography of him is excellent.

Regards
Paul

 

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