To the Islands

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To the Islands is a novel by the Australian writer Randolph Stow , published in 1958 , in which he describes the difficult relationship between indigenous and European-born inhabitants of a small Australian Aboriginal mission station in the 1950s - a time that was considered to be a period of spiritual upheaval for the Native people is depicted. The book received the Miles Franklin Award in 1958 .

Originally the work was intended as propaganda for the work of at least some missions in Australia . In 1982 Stow made a revision of his work in favor of the representation of the Aborigines .

content

Missionary Heriot has been running the small station in northwest Australia for 30 years. His leadership style is characterized by unyielding toughness and willpower; the mission is his kingdom. Towards the end of his service as a missionary, Heriot realizes that he is losing his authority. His way of leading is no longer appropriate. The Aborigines have reached a phase in which they are confident enough to claim their right to self-determination. Aged, resigned after various hardships and alienated from the Aborigines through his totalitarian behavior, he is now waiting for his replacement and at the same time fearing it.

On the first day the novel describes, Heriot comes into conflict with almost every resident of the station. His moodiness and his constant alternation of emotions unsettles people. With his intransigence and lust for domination, Heriot destroys everything he has built. From his knowledge of upcoming changes and his previous frustration, he derives a fundamentally pessimistic view that also relates to his inner workings.

After an attempted murder of his indigenous son-in-law Rex, whom he blames for the death of his adopted daughter Esther, Heriot flees into the bush in search of the "islands", the mythical islands of the dead, accompanied against his will by the Aboriginal Justin.

His path through the loneliness of the Australian landscape also becomes a journey through his spiritual landscape. In the wilderness Heriot meets people whose experiences illuminate various aspects of his own past and who help him to make his peace with himself, his past and the impending death. The contact with nature and the culture of the indigenous peoples, which is still alien to him, brings about an rapprochement and even a partial identification of Heriot with the Aborigines. As a kind of reconciliation ritual, he gives Justin the symbols of his authority - knife, rifle and watch - and asks him to bring these things to Rex as a token of appreciation. In a cave on the coast, which serves as a resting place for deceased Aborigines, Heriot awaits the appearance of the islands - and with it his death.

literature

  • John B. Beston: The Theme of Reconciliation in Stow's "To the Islands". In: Modern Fiction Studies. Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring 1981, ISSN  0026-7724 , pp. 95-107.
  • André Dommergues: The Confluence of Three Cultures in Randolph Stow's "To the Islands". In: Commonwealth. Vol. 6, No. 2, 1984, ISSN  0395-6989 , pp. 49-55.
  • Oliver Lovesey: The Place of the Journey in Randolph Stow's "To the Islands" and Sheils Watsons's "The Double Hook". In: Ariel. Vol. 27, No. 3, July 1996, ISSN  1920-1222 , pp. 45-63.