The Sundowners (novel)
{{Short description|1952 book by Jon Cleary}}
{{infobox book |
| name = The Sundowners
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = File:TheSundownwers.jpg
| caption = First US edition
| author = Jon Cleary
| illustrator =
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| country = Australia
| language = English
| series =
| genre =
| publisher = Scribner (US)
Werner Laurie (UK)
| release_date = 1952
| english_release_date =
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| pages =
| isbn =
| preceded_by =
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}}
The Sundowners is a 1952 novel by Australian writer Jon Cleary.
Plot
The story is set in the Australian Outback during the 1920s and deals with one year in the life of the Carmody family. Paddy Carmody, Australian-born son of Irish migrants, is an itinerant worker, travelling the country with his wife Ida and son Sean in a horse-drawn wagon. Whilst Ida longs to settle in a place of their own, Paddy is unwilling to abandon his way of life and continues to pick up work where he can. He takes cattle-droving jobs and also sheep-shearing – which he doesn't like, but pays well.
At one point, he joins a shearing team with Sean as tarboy{{Cite web |title=tarboy |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/tarboy |work=Collins English Dictionary |access-date=19 July 2023}} and Ida as the shearers' cook.
They meet various colourful outback characters, ranging from prosperous graziers to drunks, including Rupert Venneker, a well-educated Englishman in self-imposed exile.
Along the way Sean develops from boy into young man, Venneker marries and settles in a small town, and the Carmodys continue on their way.
Background
The book was based on stories Cleary had been told by his father, who ran away to Queensland when he was a teenager. Additional research was provided by C. E. W. Bean's On the Wool Track.Susan Geason, 'Jon Cleary: A Fortunate Life', The Sydney Morning Herald, December 06, 1992 p 111 Cleary wrote the novel in long-hand during the evenings after work while he was living in New York working as a journalist, with the manuscript typed out by his wife Joy.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18395123 |title=AUTHOR JON CLEARY AND FAMILY RETURN. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=30 October 1953 |accessdate=27 February 2012 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}[http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parent=;query=vagg%20cleary;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History] at National Film and Sound Archive
Adaptations
The novel was a great success, eventually selling over three million copies, and was well reviewed overseas. It was his second book to be published in the USA.William du Bois, 'Paddy Was A Nomad: THE SUNDOWNERS' New York Times 9 Mar 1952: BR4
It was adapted for Australian radio in 1953 (with Rod Taylor playing Paddy),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58875725 |title=THE OUTBACK GETS A FAIR DEAL AT LAST. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=14 November 1953 |accessdate=13 March 2012 |page=63 |via=National Library of Australia}} and film rights were purchased by the American producer Joseph Kaufman, then in Australia to make Long John Silver (1954). Kaufman commissioned a script from Australian author Kay Keavney. No movie resulted, but the rights then transferred to Fred Zinneman who directed a film version in 1960. Stills from this film were used in a 1961 adaptation for the TV series Telestory, where the novel was read by actor Leonard Teale.
The character of Sean Carmody later appeared in Cleary's novel The City of Fading Light.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132375455 |title=BOOKCASE New life for 'Sundowner' character. |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=30 October 1985 |accessdate=18 October 2015 |page=29 |via=National Library of Australia}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- The novel was serialised in the Sydney Morning Herald – [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18506182 Part One], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18507604 Part Two], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28672901 Part Three], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18506729 Part Four], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18513208 Part Five], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18512093 Part Six], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18507074 Part Seven], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18512703 Part Eight], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18510427 Part Nine], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18504527 Part Ten], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18505898 Part Eleven], [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18516801 Part Twelve]
- [http://0-austlit.edu.au.library.sl.nsw.gov.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C1u- The Sundowners] at AustLit (subscription required)
{{Jon Cleary}}
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Category:Australian novels adapted into films
Category:1952 Australian novels
Category:Fiction set in the 1920s
Category:Novels set in Australia