Fly away Peter

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David Malouf: Fly away Peter (1983, Penguin)

134 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 1983 by Penguin.

ISBN:
978-0-14-007015-6
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1 star (1 review)

6 editions

reviewed Fly Away Peter by David Malouf

Parochial Literature

1 star

Let me start by saying I'm not a Malouf fan. I must be one of the only Australian English teachers who isn't a fan of his.

But this novel is a classic case of "Too clever by half." Many people adore this novel, I personally can't stand it. Its point is obvious and heavily laboured, and the repetition of the "Fly away Peter" intertextual reference is painful.

Getting a class of students to read it was like pulling teeth. From a lion. Whilst it was awake. And hungry.

This is very much a personal perspective, but teaching with this book is like teaching the worst of the Australian literary canon. It's full of navel-gazing, Australian pre-occupation with self-perception and nationhood, and horribly colonial.

It does has some nice moments, and if you're looking for concrete examples to teach specific techniques, I'll begrudgingly admit it is quite useful for that.

But …