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| The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith |
| Author | Thomas Keneally |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Angus & Robertson |
| Pub date | 1972 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 253 |
| Isbn | 0-207-14250-3 |
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1972 novel by Thomas Keneally that fictionalizes events inspired by the life of Jimmy Governor, an Indigenous Australian who committed a series of killings in 1900. The work intersects Australian colonial history, race relations, and literary modernism, drawing attention from scholars of Australian literature, postcolonialism, and comparative studies alongside figures such as David Malouf, Peter Carey, and Mudrooroo Narogin. Keneally's novel became a focal point in debates involving the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, academic institutions like the University of Sydney, and film industries exemplified by the adaptation directed by Fred Schepisi.
Keneally based the narrative on the real-life case of Jimmy Governor and the social milieu of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New South Wales, situating the story amid the aftermath of the Australian Federation and the politics surrounding the Aborigines Protection Board (New South Wales). The setting evokes locations such as the New England (New South Wales), the townships of Gunnedah, and the broader colonial frontier shaped by settlers from England, Ireland, and migrants influenced by policies linked to the White Australia policy debates in the era of Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. The novel engages with legal and penal institutions like the Supreme Court of New South Wales and references contemporary media practices found in newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald and the The Bulletin.
The narrative follows Jimmie Blacksmith, an Aboriginal man of mixed heritage working as a shearer and farm laborer for settler families associated with properties reminiscent of holdings owned by figures akin to Henry Parkes era pastoralists. After enduring racial humiliation and episodic violence from employers linked to social networks around the Australian Workers' Union and rural magistrates, Blacksmith's experiences escalate into a violent spree across districts echoing the geography of Armidale and Tamworth, culminating in pursuit by trackers coordinated with colonial police forces like the New South Wales Police Force and assisted by settlers with rifles made in workshops influenced by Smith & Wesson imports. The arc moves from subservience through shocking retaliation to legal reckoning before courts comparable to sessions presided over by judges appointed under statutes of the Colony of New South Wales.
Keneally probes themes of racial violence, identity, and vengeance while invoking intertextual resonances with works by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and contemporaries in the Commonwealth such as R.K. Narayan and V.S. Naipaul. The novel interrogates settler colonialism, echoing scholarship from Frantz Fanon and debates later developed by Edward Said and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak about representation and voice. It explores legal culpability and moral ambiguity in ways that invite comparison with trials of historical figures like Ned Kelly and discursive treatments by historians such as Henry Reynolds and John Hirst. The prose balances realism with rhetorical flourishes that critics have compared to the narrative strategies used by William Faulkner and Evelyn Waugh.
Principal figures include Jimmie Blacksmith, modeled after Jimmy Governor, and settler characters who resemble archetypes from colonial biographies such as Captain Thunderbolt narratives and pastoralist memoirs associated with the Australian colonial gentry. Secondary characters map onto professions and institutions like magistrates reminiscent of those who sat on benches in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, police officers aligned with the New South Wales Police Force, and Indigenous kin reminiscent of communities studied by anthropologists such as W. E. H. Stanner. Relationships among characters reflect tensions found in historical accounts involving squatters, shearers affiliated with the Australian Workers' Union, and clergy connected to denominations like the Church of England in Australia.
The novel was serialized and published by Angus & Robertson before crossing into stage and screen adaptations; the most prominent film version was directed by Fred Schepisi and produced in association with companies operating in the Australian film industry of the 1970s and 1980s, featuring actors whose careers intersected with the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. The adaptation process involved collaboration with producers, screenwriters, and funding bodies analogous to the Australian Film Commission and distribution networks dealing with markets in United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. The book also inspired theatrical readings and academic productions at venues such as the Sydney Theatre Company and university drama departments at the University of Melbourne.
Upon release, the novel elicited strong responses from critics in outlets like the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and periodicals modeled after Quadrant, producing debates about Keneally's portrayal of Indigenous experiences and prompting responses from writers such as Noel Pearson-era commentators and later academic critiques by scholars at institutions including Australian National University and the University of Queensland. Some reviewers praised the novel's narrative force in the tradition of Graham Greene and Thomas Hardy, while others criticized cultural appropriation echoes debated by figures like Linda Tuhiwai Smith and commentators in journals resembling the Aboriginal History review. Legal historians compared Keneally's fictional trial scenes with archival cases held in records at the State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales.
The novel's place in the canon of Australian literature influenced curricula at universities such as the University of Sydney, Monash University, and University of New South Wales, and it figured in cultural discussions alongside works by David Malouf and Peter Carey. Its depiction of frontier violence has been cited in reconciliation dialogues involving organizations like the Reconciliation Australia initiative and in historiographical shifts advanced by historians such as Henry Reynolds. The novel continues to be referenced in film studies, legal cultural studies, and postcolonial syllabi at institutions including the University of Oxford and Harvard University, sustaining its role in debates about representation, authorship, and national identity.
Category:1972 novels Category:Australian novels Category:Novels set in New South Wales