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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Heriot's Ithaka : Soul, Country and the Possibility of Home in To The Islands
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'The final line of Randolph Stow's To the Islands - " 'My soul', he whispered, over the sea-surge, 'my should is a strange country'" - has perplexed and fascinated readers and critics for five decades. In 1975 Leonie Kramer found Stow's final sentence to be misplaced: ‘It belongs – if indeed it belongs at all – not at the end of a novel of this kind, but near the beginning'. At a time when interest in Stow and his work is again on the ascendency, this paper investigates what Heriot might have appreciated his soul to be, before arguing that he could not have spoken those resonant words until the very moment when he is blinded by illumination atop the coastal cliff. Heriot walks into homelessness in a quest for home. Like Cavafy's ideal voyager his journey is long and hard, and only once he discovers his soul can he appreciate he has no home. Only then can he understand the true meaning of the islands.' (Publication abstract) -
Constructing Emptiness : Ennio Morricone and Randolph Stow
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Landscapes , vol. 2 no. 3 2004;'This paper looks at the construction of emptiness in the works of two artists: the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone and the Australian novelist Randolph Stow. The relevant texts are the music Morricone wrote for Sergio Leone's epic Once upon a Time in the West, and Stow's novels To the Islands and Tourmaline. Two different constructions of emptiness (including the Taoist one) are compared, the contradiction inherent in its apprehension is discussed, and there is speculation on how such a concept could gain entry into genres one of whose functions is to obliterate it.' (Author's abstract)
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Constructing Emptiness : Ennio Morricone and Randolph Stow
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Landscapes , vol. 2 no. 3 2004;'This paper looks at the construction of emptiness in the works of two artists: the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone and the Australian novelist Randolph Stow. The relevant texts are the music Morricone wrote for Sergio Leone's epic Once upon a Time in the West, and Stow's novels To the Islands and Tourmaline. Two different constructions of emptiness (including the Taoist one) are compared, the contradiction inherent in its apprehension is discussed, and there is speculation on how such a concept could gain entry into genres one of whose functions is to obliterate it.' (Author's abstract)
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Heriot's Ithaka : Soul, Country and the Possibility of Home in To The Islands
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'The final line of Randolph Stow's To the Islands - " 'My soul', he whispered, over the sea-surge, 'my should is a strange country'" - has perplexed and fascinated readers and critics for five decades. In 1975 Leonie Kramer found Stow's final sentence to be misplaced: ‘It belongs – if indeed it belongs at all – not at the end of a novel of this kind, but near the beginning'. At a time when interest in Stow and his work is again on the ascendency, this paper investigates what Heriot might have appreciated his soul to be, before arguing that he could not have spoken those resonant words until the very moment when he is blinded by illumination atop the coastal cliff. Heriot walks into homelessness in a quest for home. Like Cavafy's ideal voyager his journey is long and hard, and only once he discovers his soul can he appreciate he has no home. Only then can he understand the true meaning of the islands.' (Publication abstract)
