Gossip from the Forest

This article is about the novel. For the book subtitled "the tangled roots of our forests and fairytales", see Gossip from the Forest (Maitland book).

Gossip from the Forest

First edition
Author	Thomas Keneally
Language	English
Publisher	Collins, England and Australia
Publication date	1975
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	222 pp
ISBN	0151367051
OCLC	1863442
Dewey Decimal	823
LC Class	PZ4.K336 Go 1976 PR9619.3.K46

Gossip from the Forest is a 1975 novel by the Australian author Thomas Keneally which deals with the negotiations surrounding the ending of World War I. ^[1]

Subject matter

"In Gossip from the Forest, Keneally offered a concentrated fictional presentation of the peace talks that took place in the Forest of Compiègne in November 1918, focusing on the highest-ranking German negotiator, Mattias Erzberger, a liberal pacifist.

Critical reception

According to the New York Times Book Review's Paul Fussell, Gossip from the Forest 'is a study of the profoundly civilian and pacific sensibility beleaguered by crude power.... it is absorbing, and as history it achieves the kind of significance earned only by sympathy acting on deep knowledge.'

Robert E. McDowell in "World Literature Today" concluded that 'with Gossip from the Forest Keneally has succeeded better than in any of his previous books in lighting the lives of historical figures and in convincing us that people are really the events of history.'" ^[2]

Notes

• "Dedication: To My Father."
• "Author's note: In the season in which this book was written, the French government persisted in exploding nuclear devices above the ocean where my children swim."

Awards and nominations

• Man Booker Prize: shortlisted 1975 ^[3]
• FAW Barbara Ramsden Award for the Book of the Year, 1975: joint winner ^[4]

Adaptations

• "Screenplay", Season 1, Episode 1, UK television adaptation. This first screened on 19 July 1979. The teleplay was written and directed by Brian Gibson, and featured Ray Armstrong, Hugh Burden, David Calder, and Paul Clayton. ^[5]
• Theatre Adaptation by Sydney Theatre Company. The play premiered on 5 May 1983. ^[1]

External links

• Book review by Danny Yee

References

1. 1 2 "Austlit - Gossip from the Forest". Austlit. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
2. "Biography: Thomas Keneally". Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
3. "The Booker Prize 1975". The Booker Prize. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
4. "Austlit - Gossip from the Forest - Awards". Austlit. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
5. "Internet Movie DataBase". Archived from the original on 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2018-06-29.