Cloudstreet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Cloudstreet
Author	Tim Winton
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Penguin Books
Publication date	May 1991
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	426 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-14-027398-0

Cloudstreet is a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton. It chronicles the lives of two working class Australian families who come to live together at One Cloud Street, over a period of twenty years, 1943 - 1963. It was the recipient of a Miles Franklin Award in 1992.

Cloudstreet is also an aviation term for a row of thermals marked by cumulus clouds. When a glider flies from thermal to thermal by following the clouds, it will "fly the cloudstreet", staying aloft for miles.

Cloudstreet is also an Australian Folk song duo, John Thompson and Nicole Murray.

1 Plot Summary
2 Major themes
3 Historical Context
4 Literary significance & criticism
5 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

[edit] Plot Summary

Precipitated by separate personal tragedies, two families flee their rural livings to share a "huge continent of a house", Cloudstreet, in the Perth suburbs. The two families are contrasts to each other; the Lambs find meaning in industry and in God’s grace; the Pickles, in luck. The Lambs’ God is a maker of miracles; the Pickles’ God is the ‘Shifty Shadow’ of fate. Though initially resistant to each other, their search and journey for meaning in life concludes with the uniting of the two families with many characters citing this as the most important aspect of their lives. As a novel, Cloudstreet is tightly structured, opening and ending with a shared celebratory family picnic - a joyous occasion which, ironically, is also the scene of Fish’s long sought-after death or return to the water. The novel is narrated effectively by flashback "in the seconds it takes to die" by Fish Lamb, or the 'spiritual' omniscient Fish Lamb, free of his restricting mental state. As such the novel gives a voice to social minorities, the Australian working class and the disabled.

[edit] Major themes

Winton's novel is very much an exploration and celebration of life and what it means. Every character undergoes a personal journey, some longer, harder and more greatly resisted than others. Though a constant feature of all the character's journey's is the realisation of the importance of family and belonging within it. It illustrates a relationship between family and identity. Spirituality is also important in Cloudstreet, as an exploration of both community and the search for meaning. There are many occurrences within the novel that would be labelled supernatural or irrational and are not completely explained - we, as people are not going to understand everything that happens in the world around us. The novel is nostalgic for a time where Winton feels there was a greater sense of family and home. All the characters are in search for a place for which they define as somewhere that a loving relationship can exist.

[edit] Historical Context

Cloudstreet is framed by many key events in world history, including World War II, the Korean War and the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy. The novel takes place during the prime ministership of Robert Menzies, where Australia was, for the most part, comfortable and conservative, characterised by backyard barbecues, by wives - who were no longer needed for the war effort - consigned to the home, and by the growth of the Australian dream of owning a new home. World events influence the Lambs and Pickles, but distantly, like an echo that sends ripples across the surface of their lives. The novel focuses on the domestic, and this serves as the filter through which history is measured. The most prominent historical character within Cloudstreet is the Nedlands monster, a serial killer whom the book states single-handedly "made Perth into a real city". He is represents an alternative aspect of life, his journey used in juxtaposition with Quick Lamb's journey.

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

Cloudstreet received critical acclaim both in Australia and overseas.

Cloudstreet is one of the many novels studied in New South Wales' Higher School Certificate Advanced English Course (in Module B: Critical Study of Texts), and is also popular in other state senior secondary English curricula. In Western Australia, it is studied as a Year 12 TEE English Literature text, Year 12 English (Course of Study) 3A/3B text and as a Year 12 Drama Studies text. It is studied as a VCE Literature subject in Victoria.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Adapted for the stage by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo, the theatrical adaptation opened in Sydney under the direction of Neil Armfield. Seasons followed in Perth, Melbourne, London, Dublin, New York and Washington DC, with the Company B cast touring the production until 2001 with minimal recasting. A lengthy adaptation at 5 and a half hours, the play attracted rave reviews around the world. The adaptation is published by Currency Press. There are plans to adapt Cloudstreet into a television miniseries.