11. A Kangaroo still hopping around in our minds

Kangaroo has a unique place in our literature. D.H.Lawrence and his wife Frieda visited Australia briefly in 1922. They had a fortnight in the west, then came to the east coast. After a couple of days in Sydney they settled in Thirroul, thirty miles to the south, for about six weeks more. Lawrence began his new book at Thirroul; he added the last chapter of what is now Kangaroo in New Mexico, U.S.A., after he left, and the work was published in 1923. It’s never been regarded as one of Lawrence’s major works but some Australian readers and commentators have thought highly of it, especially those taking part in the decades-long discussion of Australia’s identity, or its spirit of place, on which matter Lawrence certainly had something to say. [read more]