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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A novel of the cruelty of war, and tenuousness of life and the impossibility of love.
'August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle's young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.
'This savagely beautiful novel is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.' (Publisher's blurb)
Adaptations
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form
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The Narrow Road to the Deep North ( dir. Justin Kurzel ) Australia : Curio Pictures Amazon Studios , 2025 27169119 2025 series - publisher film/TV Dorrigo Evans, a surgeon and prisoner-of-war on the Thai-Burma railway, is haunted by his love affair with his uncle's young wife two years earlier.
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable For
AC: Senior Secondary (Literature Unit 3)
Themes
bravery, cruelty and futility of war, good and evil, heroism, hope, Japanese, love, mateship, memory, national spirit, survival, war
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia
Notes
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Dedication: For prisoner san byaku san ju go (335)
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Epigraph:
A bee
staggers out
of the peony.– Basho
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Epigraph: Mother, they write poems. -Paul Celan
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On 15 March 2018, it was announced that FremantleMedia had secured the television rights to the novel, but no further information on the adaptation had been released.
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Takes its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
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The Novel Road to the Global South : Australian Fiction, International Exposure and the Transnational Politics of Disadvantage
2023
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023; -
Teaching Australia and Japan through Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , vol. 58 no. 1 2022; (p. 111-124)'This article explores historical and literary connections between Australia and Japan through Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013). The novel calls attention to differing military narratives as constructed by aggressor and victimized nations through representing Australian prisoners of war captured by the Imperial Japanese Army to work on the Thai-Burma Railway. The article serves as an exploratory study in how The Narrow Road might be taught in a Japanese university course on Japan-Australia relations through literary texts. Previous scholarship on the novel has not addressed its subject matter in relation to Japan’s continuing equivocations about its activities during the Asia-Pacific War. The article therefore explores how Australian fiction might stimulate discussion among Japanese students about contentious aspects of their nation’s history, and lead to the cultivation of cross-cultural knowledge and empathy through imagining lives that are different from their own.'(Publication abstract)
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War and Communities of Suffering : Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Contemporary Historical Fiction, Exceptionalism and Community : After the Wreck 2020; (p. 77-102) 'War emerges from, rests on, and exaggerates state exceptionalism. It requires patriotic fervor, including beliefs that "our" state must be defended at all costs, that its aggressions are justified by its uniqueness and value, and that exceptional times require exceptional measures. Without exceptionalism, going to war makes no sense; it costs too much in human lives as well as capital. Exceptionalism flourishes in wartime, shared by every state that is party to the conflict; it leads young men and women to volunteer for service that may maim or kill them. States of war arouse racial and cultural prejudice against the Others with whom "our" nation fights, leading to sites of exception like the internment camps for Japanese-Americans in the U.S. during World War II, concentration camps for Jews and Roma in Europe, and camps for prisoners of war in many global locations. States at war become quintessential states of exception, making it possible for some deeply partisan warriors to disavow their violations of national and international law and basic human rights. Since "our" state is the uniquely correct alternative to all other failed states (which claim the same exceptional status), everything is at stake and anything is allowed.' (Introduction)
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Eligibility, Access and the Laws of Literary Prizes
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , May no. 66 2020;'The ability of literary prizes to sway literary tastes and shape cultural discourse has long been explored through the decisions made by the prize judging panel. The jury of experts, who bring with them symbolic capital and are often regarded as representing a nation’s sophisticated literary palate, have been the subject of extensive scholarship. However, there is a selection process that occurs prior to the commencement of the official or public adjudication. The entry guidelines for individual literary prizes ensure that particular authors and titles will not, or cannot, be considered for the prize and are, therefore, excluded from the symbolic and economic rewards that come with being shortlisted for and winning a literary prize. How do literary prize eligibility requirements limit access to the prestige and promotion that comes with a literary prize? How does the issue of exclusivity influence the ways prizes run, the winners that are chosen and, ultimately, the field-wide conceptions of prize-winning writing?' (Introduction)
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Modern Times : The Great Australian Novel
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , November no. 477 2019; (p. 14)
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Poetry without a Shred of Pity
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 September 2013; (p. 21)
— Review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North 2013 single work novel -
Light and Shadow
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , October no. 94 2013; (p. 60-65)
— Review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North 2013 single work novel ; Eyrie 2013 single work novel -
Barometer of Torment
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 October 2013; (p. 30-31)
— Review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North 2013 single work novel -
Elusive Nobility
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 355 2013;
— Review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North 2013 single work novel -
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 29 October 2013;
— Review of The Narrow Road to the Deep North 2013 single work novel -
A Ragged Pair of Claws
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21-22 September 2013; (p. 19) -
Freeing My Father
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 21 September 2013; (p. 24-25) The Canberra Times , 21 September 2013; -
War through Prism of Love
2013
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21-22 September 2013; (p. 19) -
A Ragged Pair of Claws
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12-13 October 2013; (p. 19) -
This One's Personal
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: Brisbane News , 16-22 October no. 953 2013; (p. 12)
Awards
- 2015 winner Tasmania Book Prizes Tasmanian Literary Awards — Margaret Scott Prize
- 2015 longlisted Tasmania Book Prizes Tasmanian Literary Awards — Tasmania Book Prize
- 2015 shortlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
- 2014 winner Queensland Literary Awards — Fiction Book Award
- 2014 joint winner Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction With Steven Carroll's A World of Other People.
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Burma-Thailand Railway,
cBurma,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales,
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cJapan,cEast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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cThailand,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- Tasmania,
- 1943