"By dawn at least half the members of the Kelly gang were wounded and it was then the creature appeared from behind the police lines. It was nothing human that much was evident. It had no head but a very long thick neck and an immense chest and it walked with a slow ungainly gait directly into the hail of bullets. Shot after shot was fired without effect and the figure continued to advance on the police, stopping every now and then to move its headless neck slowly and mechanically around. I am the bloody monitor, my boys."
Peter Carey's novel "True History Of The Kelly Gang" is one of a legendary figure that goes beyond all borders and symbolises tragedy, perseverance and freedom and is truly a modern classic. It reaches readers through well-crafted and imaginative language and its prospective view of realism in Australia during the colonial era.
The trial of Ned Kelly. Source http://www.slv.vic....
Ned Kelly the day before his execution
English: Ned Kelly armour, located at the State Li...Using some of the writing techniques of popular classics of the nineteenth century, such as the themes and the style of writing, Carey has created a stunning novel, which will remain a classic for many years to come.
Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, on the 7th of May, 1943. After attending Monash University, he worked in advertising from 1962 to 1988. Carey's first major publication, the short-story collection The Fat Man in History, appeared in 1974. Praised for his inventive mixture of the comic and the ordinary, Carey often creates detailed, realistic settings into which he introduces bizarre and fabulous events. Usually set in Australia like this one is, Carey's works address themes of nationhood and history as he explores the deceptive nature of reality, and examines the art of fiction.
This novel tells the story of Ned Kelly, the most famous of all Australian outlaws, as...