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y separately published work icon The Young Desire It : A Novel single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1937... 1937 The Young Desire It : A Novel
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In the late afternoon of a day in February, that hottest of Australian summer months, when a brutal sun stood bronze above the river flats which you may see from the dormitory windows of Chatterton, Charles came to the school with his mother, walking from the railway station to the gates by a private path across a burnt, untidy field, overhung with Cape lilacs that still drooped, dusty and melancholy…In the lower part of his belly fear kicked and pulsed like a child in the womb, ready to be born.

'Fifteen-year-old Charles Fox is sent away to boarding school, innocent, alone and afraid. There one of his masters develops an intense attachment to him. But when Charles meets Margaret, a girl staying at a nearby farm for the holidays, he is besotted, and a passionate, unforgettable romance begins. ' (Publication summary : Text Classics)

Notes

  • Dedication: To W.G.C. (Dedication accompanied by a note to W.G.C. from the author.)
  • Epigraph: '...To be free to choose is not enough. Though the young desire it, they cannot use that freedom, but must be forced into the decision of choice by good or evil circumstances which while they can perceive them they cannot control...' (Michael Paul: The Anatomy of Failure).

    Note: In his foreword to the novel, first included in the 1963 edition, Douglas Stewart says: 'Mackenzie told me that he had invented the author, "Michael Paul", and the quotation from Michael Paul's alleged writings from which he had taken his title. He was always amused that none of his critics had spotted this harmless little hoax...'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson , 1972 .
      Extent: 330p.
      Edition info: Paperback ed.
      Written as: Kenneth MacKenzie
      Note/s:
      • Foreword by Douglas Stewart.
      ISBN: 0207125759
    • North Ryde, Ryde - Gladesville - Hunters Hill area, Northwest Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Sirius Books , 1989 .
      Extent: 330p.
      Written as: Kenneth Seaforth Mackenzie
      Note/s:
      • Foreword by Douglas Stewart.
      ISBN: 0207162840 (pbk.)
      Series: Sirius Books Sirius Quality Paperbacks Angus and Robertson (publisher), series - publisher
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 3330752050240700347.jpg
      Image courtesy of Text Classics
      Extent: 368p.
      Note/s:
      ISBN: 9781922147509
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 4325341493209268983.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 368p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date 27 January 2016
      ISBN: 9781925355352
      Series: y separately published work icon Text Classics Text Publishing (publisher), Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2012- Z1851461 2012 series - publisher novel 'Great books by great Australian storytellers.' (Text website.)

Works about this Work

26 Aussie Books You Must Read Blanche Clark , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 24 January 2015; (p. 18-19)
'With Australia Day upons us...26 great Australian Books that have helped shape and define our nation...'
Kenneth ‘Seaforth’ Mackenzie, The Young Desire It Shaun Bell , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 74 no. 3 2014;

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
The Year’s Work in Fiction Robyn Mundy , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 59 no. 1 2014; (p. 124-143)

— Review of Elephants in the Bush and Other Yamatji Yarns Clarrie Cameron , 2013 single work prose life story ; An Elegant Young Man Luke Carman , 2013 selected work short story ; The Incredible Here and Now Felicity Castagna , 2013 single work novel ; Elemental Amanda Curtin , 2013 single work novel ; Now Showing Ron Elliott , 2013 selected work short story ; The Heaven I Swallowed Rachel Hennessy , 2013 single work novel ; Stella's Sea Sally-Ann Jones , 2013 single work novel ; The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel ; Inland Gerald Murnane , 1988 single work novel ; White Light Mark O'Flynn , 2013 selected work short story ; Knitting and Other Stories : Margaret River Short Story Competition 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion , 2013 single work novel ; Lives of the Dead Jane Skelton , 2013 selected work short story ; The Double (And Other Stories) Maria Takolander , 2013 selected work short story ; Harmless Julienne Van Loon , 2013 single work novel ; Letters to the End of Love Yvette Walker , 2013 single work novel ; Eyrie Tim Winton , 2013 single work novel ; The Swan Book Alexis Wright , 2013 single work novel
Book Review : The Young Desire It Alex Cothren , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , May vol. 6 no. 2 2014;

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
Two Nearly Perfect Novels Jim Morgan , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Crikey , August 2013;

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
'Exceptional novels recovered from oblivion: Jim Morgan reads “Stoner” and “The Young Desire It” with great admiration, and recalls blood on the pages of another volume in the farmyard. PLUS: David Malouf live events.'
New Australian Books Frederick T. Macartney , 1938 single work review
— Appears in: All About Books , 15 January vol. 10 no. 1 1938; (p. 4)

— Review of Starry Ages W. A. Amiet , 1937 selected work prose essay ; The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel ; Gentleman Harry Retires : A Novel Philip Lindsay , 1937 single work novel ; Sue Verney Jack Lindsay , 1937 single work novel ; Sheep Without a Shepherd John McKellar , 1937 single work novel ; Catherine Helen Spence : A Study and an Appreciation Jeanne F. Young , 1937 single work biography
Untitled Nancy Keesing , 1964 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 24 no. 1 1964; (p. 65-67)

— Review of The Letters of Rachel Henning Rachel Biddulph Henning , 1952 selected work correspondence biography ; Five Senses : Selected Poems Judith Wright , 1963 selected work poetry ; Poems Kenneth Slessor , 1957 selected work poetry ; The Madeleine Heritage Martin Mills , 1928 single work novel ; Capricornia : A Novel Xavier Herbert , 1938 single work novel ; The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
The Young Desire It 1937 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 10 November vol. 58 no. 3013 1937; (p. 2)

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
Psychology of a Schoolboy 1937 single work review
— Appears in: The Sun , 11 November 1937;

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
Untitled 1937 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Sun , 14 November 1937;

— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel Seaforth MacKenzie , 1937 single work novel
Gays and Writing : Thirties Images Garry Wotherspoon , 1984 single work criticism
— Appears in: Gay Information , no. 14-15 1984; (p. 46-50)
Biographical Notes 1939 single work criticism
— Appears in: Desiderata , May no. 40 1939; (p. 3-4)
Kenneth (Seaforth) Mackenzie 1913-55 Graeme Kinross-Smith , 1980 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Australia's Writers 1980; (p. 243-250)
Seaforth Mackenzie's Fiction : Another View R. G. Geering , 1966 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 26 no. 1 1966; (p. 25-39)
The Genesis of a Writer : The Early Years of Kenneth Mackenzie Diana Davis , 1968 single work biography criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 3 no. 4 1968; (p. 254-270)
Last amended 4 Nov 2015 12:52:19
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