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'In the winter of 1966, at sixty-nine years of age, Lady Joan Lindsay sat down and wrote a short novel about a group of upper-class schoolgirls from a prestigious ladies’ college who disappear while on a country picnic in the summer of 1900. The result was Picnic at Hanging Rock, a literary mystery that has endured for half a century.
'Beyond the Rock looks at not just the myth of Picnic and how it has become part of Australia’s culture, but also the story behind it. It examines Joan Lindsay’s enigmatic life, much of which she kept secret from the world, including her childhood, her complex marriage to Daryl Lindsay of the famous Lindsay family of artists, their enduring love and unconventional bohemian life, and her life at Mulberry Hill, the Lindsays’ own Arcadia deep in the Victorian countryside.
'This is the story of one of Australia’s most famous novels, and the author who kept its secrets until she died.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Leave No Trace
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Believer , 1 April no. 124 2019; -
The Embrace of Ambiguity in Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 8-20) 'Since Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) was published over fifty years ago, it has captivated critics and readers alike. Peter Weir's influential 1975 cinematic adaptation brought the tale to an even wider audience, both national and international. The success of the film, however, has been double edged, for while it brought fame to the story, it has overshadowed the book, such that the novel and film tend to be erroneously spoken of in tandem or synonymously. Fifty years on, it is time to reconsider Picnic at Hanging Rock unmoored from its cinematic adaptation, especially in light of Janelle McCulloch's recent book Beyond the Rock (2017). Among McCulloch's many revelations is that Lindsay's literary imagination was significantly influenced by the works of the American novelist Henry James (1843– 1916). McCulloch discloses that "Joan particularly admired his novel The Turn of the Screw which she called 'a mysterious tale that was half-truth and half fiction'" (137). McCulloch does not, however, offer any detail or analysis of how and to what extent Lindsay's regard for James's work, written almost a century earlier, might have influenced her own. Certainly, there are some obvious parallels between Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Turn of the Screw, including the lack of a satisfying ending.' (Introduction) -
No Picnic
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6 May 2017; (p. 18) Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel Picnic at Hanging Rock has gripped the Australian public’s imagination for five decades. We can’t seem to let this novel go: its spooky, dramatic and sometimes sensational tale of the disappearance of three young women and a teacher after a school picnic in the bush is going to be retold, again, in a television series from Foxtel later this year.' (Introduction)
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No Picnic
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6 May 2017; (p. 18) Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel Picnic at Hanging Rock has gripped the Australian public’s imagination for five decades. We can’t seem to let this novel go: its spooky, dramatic and sometimes sensational tale of the disappearance of three young women and a teacher after a school picnic in the bush is going to be retold, again, in a television series from Foxtel later this year.' (Introduction) -
The Embrace of Ambiguity in Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 33 no. 1 2019; (p. 8-20) 'Since Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) was published over fifty years ago, it has captivated critics and readers alike. Peter Weir's influential 1975 cinematic adaptation brought the tale to an even wider audience, both national and international. The success of the film, however, has been double edged, for while it brought fame to the story, it has overshadowed the book, such that the novel and film tend to be erroneously spoken of in tandem or synonymously. Fifty years on, it is time to reconsider Picnic at Hanging Rock unmoored from its cinematic adaptation, especially in light of Janelle McCulloch's recent book Beyond the Rock (2017). Among McCulloch's many revelations is that Lindsay's literary imagination was significantly influenced by the works of the American novelist Henry James (1843– 1916). McCulloch discloses that "Joan particularly admired his novel The Turn of the Screw which she called 'a mysterious tale that was half-truth and half fiction'" (137). McCulloch does not, however, offer any detail or analysis of how and to what extent Lindsay's regard for James's work, written almost a century earlier, might have influenced her own. Certainly, there are some obvious parallels between Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Turn of the Screw, including the lack of a satisfying ending.' (Introduction) -
Leave No Trace
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Believer , 1 April no. 124 2019;
Awards
- 2018 shortlisted Indie Awards — Illustrated Non-fiction