Abstract
Book reviews: Murray Bail’s two most recent novels, The Pages and The Voyage, have a repentant air about them, an acknowledgement of limitation and failure, which is all the more striking when set against the encyclopedic ambition characteristic of his earlier novels. Their principal male characters, Wesley Antill and Frank Delage, are each notable for not achieving their ambition – to make a decisive contribution to philosophy in the one instance, to challenge the musical establishment with a revolutionary piano in the other. Each returns from Europe chastened, determinedly aware of his shortcomings. More remarkably, perhaps, given the masculine orientation of Bail’s earlier works, in both The Pages and The Voyage the dominant characters are women.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Sydney Review of Books |
Volume | 41341 |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |