‘[Flanagan’s] prose is strong and precise, and the depiction of desire’s effects is sublime.’ —Publishers Weekly
‘Acclaimed Tasmanian author Flanagan explores the pursuit and denial of desire as it affects individual lives, even history, in his fifth novel … Masterful probing of emotion with his vibrant prose.’ —Booklist
‘Flanagan skilfully combines several partially known historical events to create complex and riveting fiction … Everything dovetails beautifully …as the richly imagined multiple narrative arrives at its several sorrowful conclusions. An ingenious, thoughtful and potent demonstration of this assured author’s imaginative versatility.’ —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
‘Moving seamlessly through time, across two continents and between three storylines, Wanting is a marvel of precision and cohesion … Flanagan knows even the strongest yearning can mean nothing against the tides of fate. His beautifully bleak riffs on this universal theme make Wanting one of the finest novels of the year.’ —The Sun-Herald
‘In dense, poetic prose, Flanagan characterises something that exists across human experience, above and beyond historical particulars and cultural differences: “The way we are denied love. And the way we suddenly discover it being offered us, in all its pain and infinite heartbreak.”’ —The Guardian
‘A beautifully constructed fugue on desire and its denial, on the protean forms assumed by passionate natures wrestling with 19th-century dictates of reason and duty.’ —The Times Literary Supplement
‘Wanting is a novel you never want to end. As a reader, I can offer no greater accolade.’ —The Canberra Times
And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?
‘And what do you do, Mr Faulkner?’ asked Clark Gable after being introduced to William Faulkner at a party.
‘I write,’ replied Faulkner.
‘And what do you do, Mr Gable?’
Collected here for the first time are the very best of Richard Flanagan’s wide-ranging, free-wheeling writings on everything from a near-fatal kayak trip to directing film and writing novels; from baking bread to bushfires to art to war; from refugees on the run to Jorge Luis Borges to his celebrated essay on the rape of Tasmania’s forests, credited as a key to halting Gunns’ two-billion-dollar pulp mill.
Sparkling, moving and always surprising, this is exhilarating reading from one of Australia’s finest writers.
Praise for And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?
‘Richard Flanagan examines the quotidian – and the extraordinary – in a welcome collection of his writings … Few can match his eloquence, unflinching honesty and capacity to surprise, as this potent collection attests.’—Bron Sibree, The Courier-Mail
‘What unites all the pieces, from 1995 to 2010, is a care for the precision of words not to dazzle but to carry a strong and infectious feeling for the subject … This collection proves that at least a portion of what passes through our hands each day is worth bottling, cellaring and revisiting as it gets better with the years.’—Malcolm Knox, The Saturday Age
‘The well-tempered prose of sweet reason. Highly recommended.’—Ian McFarlane, The Canberra Times
Richard Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961. His novels Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould’s Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting have received numerous honours and are published in twenty-six countries. He directed a feature-film version of The Sound of One Hand Clapping and co-wrote Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. A collection of his essays is published as And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?.
ALSO BY RICHARD FLANAGAN
FICTION
Death of a River Guide
Gould’s Book of Fish
The Unknown Terrorist
Wanting
NON-FICTION
And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Published by Random House Australia 2012
Copyright © Richard Flanagan 1997
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Vintage book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW, 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices
First published by Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Australia Pty
Limited, in 1997
First published by Vintage Australia in 2012
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Flanagan, Richard, 1961-
The sound of one hand clapping [electronic resource] / Richard Flanagan
ISBN 9781742756103 (epub)
Fathers and daughters - Australia - Fiction.
Families - Fiction.
Alcoholics - Fiction.
Tasmania - Emigration and immigration - Fiction.
A823.3
‘Goodbye Mr Pippin' by George Park, from A. C. Frost, Green Gold, 1976
(A.C. Frost and the Donnybrook and Balingup Shire Council, WA).
Cover photograph © David A. Kent
Cover design by Gayna Murphy
Author photograph by Colin MacDougall
There’s so much more at randomhouse.com.au
Table of Contents
About the Book
Praise for ‘The Sound of One Hand Clapping’
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1: 1954
Chapter 2: 1967
Chapter 3: 1989
Chapter 4: 1989
Chapter 5: 1989
Chapter 6: 1954
Chapter 7: 1989
Chapter 8: 1989
Chapter 9: 1954
Chapter 10: 1989
Chapter 11: 1989
Chapter 12: 1989
Chapter 13: 1954
Chapter 14: 1989
Chapter 15: 1989
Chapter 16: 1959
Chapter 17: 1959
Chapter 18: 1959
Chapter 19: 1989
Chapter 20: 1989
Chapter 21: 1989
Chapter 22: 1989
Chapter 23: 1959
Chapter 24: 1959
Chapter 25: 1960
Chapter 26: 1989
Chapter 27: 1960
Chapter 28: 1960
Chapter 29: 1960
Chapter 30: 1989
Chapter 31: 1990
Chapter 32: 1990
Chapter 33: 1990
Chapter 34: 1990
Chapter 35: 1961
Chapter 36: 1961
Chapter 37: 1961
Chapter 38: 1961
Chapter 39: 1961
Chapter 40: 1962
Chapter 41: 1962
Chapter 42: 1962
Chapter 43: 1990
Chapter 44: 1990
Chapter 45: 1990
Chapter 46: 1990
Chapter 47: 1954
Chapter 48: 1966
Chapter 49: 1966
Chapter 50: 1966
Chapter 51: 1966
Chapter 52: 1966
Chapter 53: 1966
Chapter 54: 1966
Chapter 55: 1966
Chapter 56: 1966
Chapter 57: 1966
Chapter 58: 1990
Chap
ter 59: 1990
Chapter 60: 1990
Chapter 61: 1990
Chapter 62: 1967
Chapter 63: 1967
Chapter 64: 1967
Chapter 65: 1967
Chapter 66: 1990
Chapter 67: 1990
Chapter 68: 1990
Chapter 69: 1990
Chapter 70: 1990
Chapter 71: 1990
Chapter 72: 1990
Chapter 73: 1990
Chapter 74: 1990
Chapter 75: 1954
Chapter 76: 1990
Chapter 77: 1954
Chapter 78: 1954
Chapter 79: 1954
Chapter 80: 1954
Chapter 81: 1990
Chapter 82: 1954
Chapter 83: 1990
Chapter 84: 1990
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Also by Richard Flanagan
Death of a River Guide
Gould’s Book of Fish
The Unknown Terrorist
Wanting
And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?
About the Author
Copyright Page
More at Random House Australia
The Sound of One Hand Clapping Page 31
