Strandloper

"William Buckley (c.1780-1856), the subject of Alan Garner's uneven but fascinating first adult novel 'Strandloper,' was the most famous of the 'wild white men' of Australia. A Cheshire bricklayer and soldier, he was transported for life in 1803. He quickly escaped, was given up for dead, and forgotten. In 1835 he suddenly reappeared to his astonished countrymen having, it was thought, lived among savages, and become little better himself. He was pardoned and began mediating between the English and Aborigines in the business of settling the latter's sacred sites with sheep. Thereafter, his life was somewhat bathetic. He become a factory gate keeper in Tasmania, married and remained unforthcoming about his remarkable past. He seems disappointingly miscast as an enigmatic adventurer, dismissed by the 'Australian Encyclopedia' as 'unintelligent and unreliable...gentle and harmless.' Sensibly, Alan Garner changes things a bit....He uses rather than tells the story of Buckley's life and the missing 32 years. His theme is the unity of creation, which he demonstrates with as much symbolism and as much pointing of parallels and consonances, especially in his beloved folklore, as can be stuffed into 200 pages....Whatever one may think of such cocksure logical hopscotch, clearly Garner is self-consciously attempting to write myth, or, more precisely perhaps, heroic saga....Flawed as it is, and for all its shortness, 'Strandloper' is a big book worth savoring."Alan Garner is the author of 'Strandloper' with ISBN 9781860461606 and ISBN 1860461603.