The novel follows the life of Jack Trap, a man living on the outskirts of Melbourne in the 1960s. Trap is of mixed Irish, English and Aboriginal background, in his forties and fat. He joins with a small group of outsiders and travels to a mining lease on Cape York to form a co-operative community.
Critical receptionedit
In The Canberra Times Maurice Dunlevy found that the attempted satire fell well short of its target: "Trap is a first novel and reads like one. It attempts to be satirical, shocking and avant garde — succeeds only in being naive...His irony is too heavy, his targets are too obvious and he never cuts deeper than satirical revue."[3]
Roger Milliss in the Tribune (Sydney), found "The style is often reminiscent of that of Patrick White's admittedly not-very-edifying satires of suburbia. And, dealing as it does with the aboriginal question (if Mr. Mathers' complex theme can be summed up so inadequately), it possesses some generic connections with a whole stream of our writing, from Coonardoo on."[4]
Publication historyedit
Following the novel's initial publication by Cassell in 1966,[5] the book was published as follows:
trap, novel, trap, 1966, first, novel, australian, author, peter, mathers, miles, franklin, award, 1966, trapfirst, editionauthorpeter, matherscountryaustralialanguageenglishgenrenovelpublishercassell, australiapublication, date1966media, typeprint, hardback, . Trap 1966 is the first novel by Australian author Peter Mathers 1 It won the Miles Franklin Award for 1966 2 TrapFirst editionAuthorPeter MathersCountryAustraliaLanguageEnglishGenreNovelPublisherCassell AustraliaPublication date1966Media typePrint Hardback Preceded by Followed byThe Wort Papers Contents 1 Story outline 2 Critical reception 3 Publication history 4 See also 5 ReferencesStory outline editThe novel follows the life of Jack Trap a man living on the outskirts of Melbourne in the 1960s Trap is of mixed Irish English and Aboriginal background in his forties and fat He joins with a small group of outsiders and travels to a mining lease on Cape York to form a co operative community Critical reception editIn The Canberra Times Maurice Dunlevy found that the attempted satire fell well short of its target Trap is a first novel and reads like one It attempts to be satirical shocking and avant garde succeeds only in being naive His irony is too heavy his targets are too obvious and he never cuts deeper than satirical revue 3 Roger Milliss in the Tribune Sydney found The style is often reminiscent of that of Patrick White s admittedly not very edifying satires of suburbia And dealing as it does with the aboriginal question if Mr Mathers complex theme can be summed up so inadequately it possesses some generic connections with a whole stream of our writing from Coonardoo on 4 Publication history editFollowing the novel s initial publication by Cassell in 1966 5 the book was published as follows 1970 Sphere UK 1 1978 Nelson Australia 6 2003 Sydney University Press Australia 7 See also edit1966 in Australian literatureReferences edit a b Austlit Trap by Peter Mathers Austlit Retrieved 12 July 2023 Franklin award to brilliant novel The Canberra Times 19 April 1967 p1 Naive attempt at satire by Maurice Dunlevy The Canberra Times 18 June 1966 p10 Retrieved 12 July 2023 Trapped in the Lucky Country Tribune 7 September 1966 p6 Retrieved 12 July 2023 Trap Cassell National Library of Australia Retrieved 12 July 2023 Trap Nelson National Library of Australia Retrieved 12 July 2023 Trap SUP National Library of Australia Retrieved 12 July 2023 nbsp This article about a 1960s novel is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Trap novel amp oldid 1218803955, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
