![]() The young film-maker, along with many other supplicants such as designers of emblems, wait to present their projects to the Plainsmen who come into town every now and again for the purpose of hearing (but mostly rejecting) the petitions. The Plains is set in an imaginary world where there is inner Australia where the Plainsmen are, and the coast, which has ceased to be important. This is like K waiting on the bench to sort out his petition. After 24 hours he is unshaven and in need of a pee, but it’s ok because it makes the Plainsmen feel superior. For some reason it reminds me of Kafka, but I’m not scholarly enough to know why, except for an incident where the young film-maker petitioning the Plainsmen dare not leave his seat for fear of losing his place. It seems to be a parable or an allegory but of what I am not sure. ![]() Gerald Murnane won the 1999 Patrick White Award for under-recognised writers, and until good old Text republished this 1982 novella, it was out of print. ![]() Not likely, I know, but strange things happen in the LitBlogSphere… I thought I’d publish it here, and hopefully aficionados of Mr Murnane will seize upon my ramblings and set me straight. About 30 pages into the book I had to stop reading to dig out my reading journal (Vol12, p58) to see what I had written about The Plains, which I read back in 2007. ![]() Gerald Murnane is a most mysterious author of strangely seductive books, and I’m currently reading Inland, first published in 1988 and now reprinted as part of the Australian Classics Library. ![]()
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