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| Redheap | |
|---|---|
| Name | Redheap |
| Author | Norman Lindsay |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Harrap (UK); later editions by Robertson & Mullens (Australia) |
| Pub date | 1930 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 352 (varies by edition) |
Redheap
Redheap is a 1930 novel by Australian artist and writer Norman Lindsay. Set in a fictional Victorian-era town, the work portrays social mores, sexual mores, and class tensions through the lives of several families and individuals. The novel became notorious for its frank treatment of sexuality and for provoking debates involving Australian literary circles, political figures, and censorship authorities.
The narrative unfolds in a provincial township modeled on scenes familiar to Norman Lindsay from Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), and surrounding towns such as Geelong and Ballarat. Through interwoven episodes, it follows the fortunes of the Weaver family, the young protagonist, and a cast including tradespeople, clergy, and professionals connected to institutions like the local hospital, school, and railway station. Energies in the town concentrate on social rituals—attending christenings, negotiating marriages near St Kilda, and engaging with civic bodies like the municipal council—while secrets involving infidelity, ambition, and resentment surface. Lindsay charts scandals that implicate figures resembling members of the colonial elite, local businessmen involved with squatting and land speculation, and cultural actors who frequent theatres showing works by Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. The plot moves episodically toward confrontations that expose hypocrisy among religious leaders, legal professionals associated with the Supreme Court of Victoria, and families pursuing respectability.
Principal figures include members of the Weaver household and local personalities drawn with satirical detail. The protagonist encounters characters evocative of archetypes such as an ambitious solicitor, a minister of religion, and an artist-figure reminiscent of Lindsay’s circles in Sydney and London. Supporting characters resemble well-known personages from Australian cultural life: newspaper editors from outlets similar to The Argus (Melbourne) and The Bulletin, entrepreneurs tied to enterprises like the Victorian Railways, and performers connected to venues such as the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. The portrayal extends to women negotiating limited options in towns shaped by the legacies of figures like Henry Parkes and institutional frameworks influenced by colonial administrators from the era of Governor Gipps and later public servants. Lindsay populates the book with foils who mirror contemporaries in the arts and letters, including those associated with groups around J.F. Archibald and Banjo Paterson.
Redheap was written after Lindsay had established a reputation as a provocative illustrator and author, known for contributions to periodicals and exhibitions in Sydney Art Gallery contexts and salons frequented by figures linked to Heidelberg School influences. Initially published in 1930 by Harrap in the United Kingdom, the novel attracted immediate attention in literary reviews in outlets comparable to The Times, The New Statesman, and Australian newspapers such as The Age (Melbourne). Critics debated its satirical skill alongside moral judgments; commentators from institutions like the Australian Literary Society and contemporaneous critics referencing works by Joseph Conrad and D.H. Lawrence engaged the novel. Despite praise from some modernist circles acquainted with writings in London Review-style publications, conservative voices and parts of the legal establishment criticized its tone and perceived immorality.
Redheap quickly became the focal point of censorship debates in Australia and in colonial cultural discussions influenced by statutes akin to the Nazi book bans climate in Europe and moral policing in Commonwealth jurisdictions. Several Australian state authorities invoked obscenity statutes administered by officials with ties to municipal councils and police forces. Political figures in parties such as the precursors of the Australian Labor Party and conservative state legislators weighed in publicly; clergy from denominations represented by Anglican Church of Australia leaders and representatives from Roman Catholic Church in Australia protested. The novel’s suppression included withdrawal from public sale in some jurisdictions and debates in newspaper editorials by publishers similar to Robertson & Mullens. Legal cases and administrative rulings concerning the book joined a broader transnational conversation about censorship that also touched on trials involving works by James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence.
Lindsay examines hypocrisy, sexual repression, class stratification, and provincial small-town life, engaging themes explored in contemporaneous works by Henry James, Thomas Hardy, and Evelyn Waugh. The novel’s realist detail aligns with traditions represented by George Eliot and Anthony Trollope, while its candid sexual material invites comparison to modernists such as D.H. Lawrence and Radclyffe Hall. Scholars cite Lindsay’s visual-art background—connections to exhibitions at institutions like Art Gallery of New South Wales and networks including artists akin to Tom Roberts—as influential on his descriptive passages. The book contributed to debates about Australian national identity in literature alongside texts by Marcus Clarke, Henry Lawson, and Miles Franklin, and shaped subsequent discussions in journals comparable to Meanjin and Southerly.
Although official stage, film, and radio adaptations encountered obstacles because of censorship, the novel influenced dramatists and filmmakers connected to Australian institutions such as the Australian Broadcasting Commission and directors associated with the early twentieth-century film community in Australia. Later academic interest by scholars at universities like University of Melbourne and University of Sydney has produced theses, articles, and critical editions. Redheap’s controversy contributed to reforms in publishing practices and to the careers of artists and writers in circles that included associates of Norman Lindsay and salons comparable to those at Julian Rossi Ashton’s studio. The novel remains a point of reference in studies of obscenity law and Australian literary modernism.
Category:1930 novels Category:Australian novels Category:Works by Norman Lindsay