Dirt Music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Title Dirt Music
Image:Dirt_music_cover.jpg
2004 Paperback Version
Author Tim Winton
Country Australia
Language English
Genre(s) Fiction
Publisher Picador
Released 2001
Pages 465
ISBN ISBN 0-330-36323-9

Dirt Music by Tim Winton is a Booker prize shortlisted novel from 2001 and winner of the 2002 Miles Franklin Award. The harsh, unyielding climate of Western Australia dominates the actions and events of this thriller.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Georgie the "heroine" of the book, becomes fascinated in watching a stranger attempting to smuggle fish in an area where nobody can maintain secrets for very long; disillusioned with her relationship with the local "hard man" and entrepreneur Jim Buckridge, she contrives a meeting with the "stranger" and soon passion runs out of control between two bruised and emotionally fragile people.

The secret quickly becomes impossible to hide and Jim wants "revenge", whilst the smuggler decamps to the farthest outback to escape a confrontation. His subsequent struggles to survive in the hostile environment and knowing that he must try to literally "cover his tracks" give this book its gripping denouement. At times you can almost feel the thirst, the hunger, the sensation of scorching heat and perspiration in the bush.[1]

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

[edit] Album

Tim Winton and Lucky Oceans chose the music for the book's "soundtrack". Released in CD form in Australia in 2001, the two disc set includes both bluegrass and classical music. The music is embodied by a quote from the book: "Anything you could play on a verandah. You know, without electricity. Dirt music."

[edit] Track Listing:

Disc One (bluegrass)

  1. "Every Morning" performed by Keb' Mo' - 3:00
  2. "Long Time Gone" performed by Tim O'brien and Darrell Scott - 3:35
  3. "Watching the Wheels" performed by David Hyams - 2:26
  4. "Got to Have You be My Man" performed by Rory Black - 2:24
  5. "I Remember When I Was Young" performed by Matt Taylor and the White Pointers - 4:28
  6. "Down by the Riverbed" performed by Renée Geyer with Uncle Bill - 5:12
  7. "I Scare Myself" performed by Mud Crab Trio - 4:26
  8. "I'll be Gone" performed by Lucky Oceans - 3:52
  9. "Goodnight, Irene" performed by Lucky Oceans - 2:08
  10. "He Fades Away" performed by June Tabor - 4:27
  11. "A River Runs Through My Heart" performed by Broderick Smith - 4:19
  12. "Look at the Moon" performed by Lucky Oceans with the White Pointers - 3:52
  13. "White Point Breakdown" performed by Lucky Oceans with the White Pointers - 2:00
  14. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" performed by Sensitive New Age Cowpersons - 2:58
  15. "I Drew My Ship into the Harbour" performed by Eliza Carthy, John Reed & Tristan Chipolata - 5:34
  16. "Kokomo Blues" performed by Ten Cent Shooters - 3:58
  17. "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning" Jim Fisher and the White Pointers - 2:57
  18. "One" performed by Lucky Oceans - 1:02
  19. "Nobody's Fault but Mine" performed by Matt Taylor and the White Pointers - 3:12
  20. "Dirt Floor" performed by Chris Whitley - 2:10

Disc Two (classical)

  1. "Djilile" composed by Peter Sculthorpe and performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra - 4:33
  2. "Symphony No. 5: III. Romanza (Lento)" composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra - 10:56
  3. "Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57: III. Scherzo (Allegretto)" composed by Dmitri Shostakovich and performed by Australia Ensemble - 3:24
  4. "St Matthew Passion: No. 53 Befiehl du deine Wege" composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and performed by the Stuttgart Hymnus Boys' Choir & the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra - 1:29
  5. "Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten" composed by Arvo Pärt and performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra - 7:40

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tim Winton : Dirt Music : Book Review. Mostly Fiction (2003-02-22). Retrieved on 2006-10-22.

[edit] External links