The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith Book

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The classic by Booker Prize-winner Thomas Keneally When Jimmie Blacksmith marries a white woman, the backlash from both Jimmie's tribe and white society initiates a series of dramatic events. As Jimmie tries to survive between two cultures, tensions reach a head when the Newbys, Jimmie's white employers, try to break up his marriage. the Newby women are murdered and Jimmie flees, pursued by police and vigilantes. the hunt intensifies as further murders are committed, and concludes with tragic results.thomas Keneally's fictionalised account of the 1900 killing spree of half-Aboriginal Jimmy Governor is a powerful story of a black man's revenge against an unjust and intolerant society.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

On Thomas Keneally

Keneally’s caricature of a self-loathing Jimmie Blacksmith is a lost opportunity to explore the complex ways that Aboriginal people . . . were pushing against a white world that would not accept them for who they were; that would not see them as equal; that, in truth, would not see them as human. Acclaimed journalist Stan Grant weaves literary criticism, philosophy and memoir to shed light on The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. Drawing parallels with Indigenous writers Tara June Winch and Bruce Pascoe, Grant brilliantly re-examines Keneally’s novel, raising questions about identity, modernity and storytelling. In the Writers on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Provocative and crisp, these books start a fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light on the craft of writing, and introduce some intriguing and talented authors and their work. Published by Black Inc. in association with the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria.