Description

Published in Australia in 2009, Barley Patch was Murnane’s first book in fourteen years, written after a period in which he had thought he would never write fiction again. The book begins with the question, ‘Must I write?’ What follows is both a chronicle of the images that have endured in the author’s mind and an exploration of their nature. The clarity of the images is extraordinary, as is their range, from Mandrake the Magician to the bachelor uncle kicked in the ‘stones’ as a child, from a cousin’s doll’s house to the mysterious woman who lets her hair down, from the soldier beetle who winks messages from God to the racehorses that run forever in the author’s mind.

The narrator lays bare the acts of writing and imagining, finally giving us a glimpse of the mythical place where the characters of fiction dwell before they come into existence in books. With something of the spirit of Italo Calvino and Georges Perec, this is a cornerstone of Murnane’s unclassifiable project, for which he is a deserving Nobel Prize candidate.

‘A genius.’ Teju Cole

Publisher Review

‘This is capital L Literature, bursting with intent and ideas, but written as good Literature should be: pitching at street level, without affectation or arch, high-blown language. Barley Patch is a readily accessible test of the mind’s elasticity that should be recognized as a unique, timeless, and utterly satisfying work.’ James Rose, New York Journal of Books ‘Murnane is unlike anyone else, the sort of writer who demands to be read in a new way but, above all, demands to be read.’ Brian Evenson, Chicago Review of Books ‘He is without question both the most original and most significant Australian author of the last 50 years, and one of the best writers Australia has produced.’ Emmett Stinson, The Guardian Barley Patch is Murnane’s candid attempt to understand the nature of writing, particularly his own reasons for doing it. And when one of the great writers in the English language wrestles with such questions, we all benefit. — Jonny Diamond * Lit Hub *