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Cover of The Plains

The Plains

Gerald Murnane (1982)

SubgenreSpace Opera
Age groupAdult 18+
Content ratingR
Pages ()
Setting
Goodreads3.66

Content levels

ViolenceNot rated
Sexual contentNot rated
LanguageNot rated

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Synopsis

On their vast estates, the landowning families of the plains have preserved a rich and distinctive culture. Obsessed with their own habitat and history, they hire artisans, writers and historians to record in minute detail every aspect of their lives, and the nature of their land. A young film-maker arrives on the plains, hoping to make his own contribution to the elaboration of this history. In a private library he begins to take notes for a film, and chooses the daughter of his patron for a leading role. Twenty years later, he begins to tell his haunting story of life on the plains. As his story unfolds, the novel becomes, in the words of Murray Bail, 'a mirage of landscape, memory, love and literature itself'.