Wanting: A Novel

by Richard Flanagan

Book Overview

Internationally acclaimed and profoundly moving, Richard Flanagan's Wanting is a stunning tale of colonialism, ambition, and the lusts and longings that make us human. Now in paperback, it links two... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802144772
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.7" x 5.6"

Customer Reviews

A book every Australian should read

Synopsis: Wanting tells two stories. One is of a small aboriginal girl, Mathinna, in Tasmania in 1839, and the other is of Charles Dickens, 20 years later. What binds them together is Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin. John Franklin is the new Governor of Tasmania, and he and his wife 'adopt' Mathninna as a scientific experiment to see if a 'savage' can be made 'civilised'. 20 years later, John is missing on a failed polar expedition, rumored to have succumbed to cannibalism in an effort to survive before dying. Lady Jane hires Charles Dickens to write an article discrediting the rumor and restoring Sir John's reputation. Charles Dickens becomes infatuated with the idea of this frozen escapade and writes, and performs in a play based on the story, which changes him forever. As I first started reading I found myself 'wanting' the book to get better, I was really struggling to maintain my interest. But then as I pushed on, and the stories are revealed I suddenly understood why this book was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. It begins with the quote 'reason is only reason and satisfies only man's reasoning capacity, while wanting is a manifestation of the whole of life.' In Flanagan's Author's note at the end of the book he writes that Wanting is a 'meditation on desire - the cost of its denial, the centrality and force of its power in human affairs.' Lady Jane says 'the distance between savagery and civilisation is measured by our control of our basest instincts'. All of the characters either succumb to or deny their 'base instincts' largely resulting in tragedy. Whether it is Sir John succumbing to his desire for Mathinna, or Lady Jane denying her pull to protect and love and cherish Mathinna, only damage is done. The history of the colonisation of Tasmania and the genocide of the indigenous people, the lines between savagery and civilisation is the perfect background for this 'meditation' on desire. The horror is encapsulated in scenes such as where Mathinna is forced to dance to provide entertainment for Sir John and Lady Jane while they eat dinner, and the Protector (of the indigenous population) presents Lady Jane with Mathinna's father's skull (having been removed, flensed, boiled and rendered) as a scientific curio. While this book should not be read as true history, it contains a wealth of information about Tasmania and England which is fascinating. The stories are absolutely heartrending and is an example of the kind of book every Australian should read. Our history is not an easy one to reconcile, but recognition and acknowledgement of past transgressions is the first step.

`We have in our lives only a few moments.'

This novel, set in the 19th century, contains separate but connected stories involving a number of historical figures and events. These include Sir John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania); his wife Lady Jane Franklin, George Augustus Robinson (Chief Protector of Aborigines), Mathinna, an aboriginal girl adopted by the Franklins, and the novelists Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. A policy of removal of Van Diemonian aborigines has led to their near extinction. On a visit to Flinders Island, where Mr Robinson has established a settlement for aborigines, the Franklins are captivated by Mathinna. Lady Jane Franklin has no children of her own, and decides: `To raise one individual with every advantage of class and rank would be an experiment of the soul worth making, both for science and for God.' Sir John and Lady Jane each become obsessed with Mathinna but she is unable to meet their idealistic needs and each, in their own way, abandon her. Years later in England, Lady Franklin seeks the support of Charles Dsickens. Sir John's expedition to discover the North West Passage has vanished, and rumours of cannibalism are spreading. Dickens defends Sir John Franklin through `Household Words' and Collins writes `The Frozen Deep', a play inspired by Dicken's writing. The Franklin's obsession with Mathinna, and Dickens's obsession with `The Frozen Deep' are each powerfully written. I found the story of Mathinna sadder than the story of Sir John's lost expedition. In my reading, Mathinna had fewer choices available to her once abandoned by the Franklins. This is a beautifully told story made more interesting, perhaps, by its setting. The history it embraces is fascinating. This is a story about the tragic consequences of desire and ambition writ large on a global canvas. Jennifer Cameron-Smith

On the Death of Children

This extraordinary novel is framed by the death of two children. Near the beginning, in 1851, Charles Dickens' ninth and youngest child Dora dies while her father is speaking on behalf of a theatrical charity. A few pages later there is reference to the death of another child, an aboriginal girl in distant Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) called Mathinna. The book proceeds in alternating chapters in two converging time periods, moving on from Dora's death and forward to Mathinna's. The odd-numbered chapters begin in 1838, with the visit of the Vice-Regent, Sir John Franklin, to an island colony where the few survivors of the wholesale slaughter of aborigines in the earlier part of the century have been sequestered, many dying from unexplained diseases. His wife is charmed by the dancing of Mathinna, the seven-year-old daughter of the aborigine king, and decides to have her brought up as a European lady, thus cloaking her sorrow at not being able to bear children herself in the guise of a scientific and educational experiment. Mathinna's life over the next ten years traces an extraordinary parabola; she is a delightful creation, and the story of how she is alternatively feted and abused makes devastating reading. The connection with the life of Charles Dickens is admittedly slim. By 1851, Sir John Franklin, the former Tasmanian Vice-Regent, has disappeared on an arctic expedition and is presumed dead. His widow enlists Dickens' help in clearing his name from charges of cannibalism. As a result, Dickens becomes interested in polar exploration and, with the help of Wilkie Collins, stages a play with an arctic setting, acting the leading role himself to enormous acclaim. In the course of rehearsals, he falls under the spell of a very young actress, somehow resisting his desire for her even as his own marriage is falling apart. The theme of desire and the mastery of desire is one thing that connects the two parts of the book, as is the relationship between public achievements and private passions. But the thematic connections are not always easy to follow. My experience was akin to reading two historical novels at the same time, enraged by one and intrigued by the other, but treasuring the time spent with either. For a fuller account of the Tasmanian massacres, I would recommend Matthew Kneale's novel ENGLISH PASSENGERS, which also uses a multi-threaded technique. Flanagan's focus is personal rather than epic, taking the historical record (for most of these characters really existed) back to the small acts of concupiscence, misplaced rectitude, or sheer stupidity that lay behind it. His writing is exquisite, as in this description of Mathinna dancing in the streets: "part native jig and something of a toff's dance, half-hyena and fully a princess, queer, lost, belonging and not belonging." Or his farewell to Dickens, which goes further than anything to tie the two parts together: "And he, the man who had spent a life believing that giving in to desire

Perfect title

Wanting cuts many ways- desire achieved, desire repressed, desire lost; and how the human is so often found wanting in sympathy, charity, humanity. The two are intimately related within a character, and within their social interactions.

A wonderful book

This is another beautiful and incredibly human book by Flanagan. If you like Tolstoy, you will love this.