Dirt Music

Last updated

Dirt Music
DirtMusic.jpg
First edition cover
AuthorTim Winton
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Picador
Publication date
2001
Pages465
ISBN 0-330-36323-9
OCLC 48561064
823/.914 22
LC Class PR9619.3.W585 D57 2001

Dirt Music is a 2001 novel by Tim Winton. A 2002 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel and winner of the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, it has been translated into Russian, French, German, Dutch, and Swedish. [1] The harsh, unyielding climate of Western Australia dominates the actions and events of this thriller.

Contents

Plot summary

Georgie, the heroine of the book, becomes fascinated while watching a stranger attempting to poach fish in an area where nobody can maintain secrets for very long. Disillusioned with her relationship with the local fisherman legend Jim Buckridge, she contrives a meeting with the stranger and soon passion runs out of control between two bruised and emotionally fragile people.

The secret quickly becomes impossible to hide, and Jim wants revenge, whilst the poacher hikes north via Wittenoom (out of respect for his father who died of mesothelioma in the town) and Broome, to an island off the remote coast of Kimberley, beyond Kununurra, so as to escape a confrontation. His subsequent struggles to survive in the hostile environment, knowing that he must try to literally cover his tracks, give this book its gripping denouement. [2]

Reviews

A review by Leigh Mytton on the BBC describes Winton's characterisation as "incisive" that he "intersperses raw and vernacular language with lyrical passages ... Throughout the novel, it is the indomitable force of nature that pervades." [3]

Paul Daley in The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "Dirt Music is an Australian novel. But it's not gentle or tame and there's nothing quaint about it. Family dysfunction, loneliness and alcoholism in Winton's part of the world - the harsh, beautiful West Australian coast - are among the elements of this raw, tender and disquieting love story." [4]

Jules Smith, for the British Council, writes that in Dirt Music Tim Winton, "brings his human and environmental themes together in ways that are always intensely realized and touching". [5]

Awards

Album

Tim Winton and Lucky Oceans chose the music for the book's "soundtrack". Released in CD form in Australia in 2001, the two disc set includes both bluegrass and classical music. The music is embodied by a quote from the book: "Anything you could play on a verandah. You know, without electricity. Dirt music." [9]

Film adaptation

A film adaptation, Dirt Music , directed by Gregor Jordan, was released in September 2019. It featured Kelly Macdonald and Garrett Hedlund in the lead roles. [10]

A proposed adaptation was in development as early as 2009, with Phillip Noyce as the prospective director. [11] In 2014, Noyce admitted that development had ceased, because "I could never get a script that I thought captured the poetry of the novel... A poetic novel is ... difficult to translate into a movie. It’s a project I’ll come back to I’m sure in the future." [12]

Related Research Articles

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.

<i>Cloudstreet</i> Novel by Tim Winton

Cloudstreet is a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton published in 1991. It chronicles the lives of two working-class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who come to live together in a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Australia, over a period of twenty years, 1943 to 1963. The novel received several awards, including a Miles Franklin Award in 1992, and has been adapted into various forms, including a stage play and a television miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Winton</span> Australian writer

Timothy John Winton is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Malouf</span> Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist

David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He also delivered the 1998 Boyer Lectures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Jolley</span> Australian writer

Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels, four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving significant critical acclaim. She was also a pioneer of creative writing teaching in Australia, counting many well-known writers such as Tim Winton among her students at Curtin University.

<i>The Riders</i> Novel by Tim Winton

The Riders (1994) is a novel by Australian author Tim Winton published in 1994. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995.

Carrie Tiffany is an English-born Australian novelist and former park ranger.

Gail Jones is an Australian novelist and academic.

<i>Shallows</i> 1984 novel by Tim Winton

Shallows (1984) is a novel by Australian author Tim Winton. It won the 1984 Miles Franklin Award, and was the 1985 joint winner of Western Australian Premier's Book Award - Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan London (Australian author)</span> Australian novelist and short story writer

Joan Elizabeth London is an Australian author of short stories, screenplays and novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara June Winch</span> Australian writer

Tara June Winch is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book The Yield.

<i>Breath</i> (novel) 2008 novel by Tim Winton

Breath is the twentieth book and eighth novel by Australian author Tim Winton. His first novel in seven years, it was published in 2008, in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melissa Lucashenko</span> Indigenous Australian writer

Melissa Lucashenko is an Indigenous Australian writer of adult literary fiction and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers.

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2013.

<i>Eyrie</i> (novel) Book by Tim Winton

Eyrie (2013) is a novel by Australian author Tim Winton. It was shortlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

<i>The Architect</i> (novel) Book by John A. Scott

The Architect (2001) is a novel by Australian author John Scott. It was shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the Victorian Premier's Prize and the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases"

Fiona Kelly McGregor is an Australian writer, performance artist and art critic whose third novel, Indelible Ink, won the 2011 The Age Book of the Year award.

Vivienne Cleven is an Indigenous Australian fiction author and writer of the Kamilaroi people. Her writing includes the novels Bitin’ Back and Her Sister’s Eye.

Felicity Castagna is an Australian writer. She won the young adult fiction prize at the 2014 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for her book, The Incredible Here and Now and the 2022 Writing for Young Adults Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for her book, Girls in Boys' Cars.

Jennifer Down is an Australian novelist and short story writer. She won the 2022 Miles Franklin Award for her novel Bodies of Light.

References

  1. ↑ "Dirt Music/ Time Winton". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tim Winton : Dirt Music : Book Review". Mostly Fiction. 22 February 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2006.
  3. ↑ "Dirt Music paints a bleak picture 16 October 2002". BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  4. ↑ "Tim Winton's big issues 29 May 2002". Sydney Morning Herard. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Critical Perspective 2003". Literature British Council. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tim Winton Author Bio". Booktopia. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  7. ↑ "Shortlist 2002". Man Booker Prize. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "Miles Franklin Literary Award - Every Winner Since 1957". Better Reading. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "Various – Dirt Music: Music For A Novel By Tim Winton". Discogs. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  10. ↑ Buckmaster, Luke (8 October 2020). "Dirt Music review – Tim Winton adaptation falls flat despite cinematic dreams". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  11. ↑ "Dirt Music 2009". IMDb archive. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "Interview: Director Phillip Noyce Tackles Science Fiction with The Giver - ComingSoon.net". ComingSoon.net. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.