Synopses & Reviews
Kangaroo is D. H. Lawrence's eighth novel, set in Australia. He wrote the first draft in just forty-five days while living south of Sydney, in 1922, and revised it three months later in New Mexico. The descriptions of the country are vivid and sympathetic and the book fuses lightly disguised autobiography with an exploration of political ideas at an immensely personal level. Based on a collation of the manuscript, typescripts and first editions, this text of Kangaroo is closest to what Lawrence would have expected to see in print. There is a full textual apparatus of variants, a comprehensive introduction giving the background and history of composition and publication and a summary of contemporary reviewers' opinions. Explanatory notes elucidate the many geographical, political and literary allusions in the text; there are three maps and an appendix detailing Australian locations.
Review
"Presented in high editorial style." Frank Kermode, London Review of Books
Synopsis
Written in 1922, the novel Kangaroo depicts Australia in a vivid and sympathetic manner, while fusing lightly disguised autobiography with an exploration of political ideas at an intensely personal level. The text is based on a collation of the manuscript, typescripts and first editions, as recorded in the apparatus. The Introduction gives background of composition and publication and a summary of contemporary reviews. Explanatory notes, with a geographical appendix, elucidate the local, political and literary allusions.
Table of Contents
General editor's preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Cue-titles; Introduction; Kangaroo; Explanatory notes; Textual apparatus; Appendix; A note on pounds, shillings and pence.