McGahan, Andrew 1966-

PERSONAL:

Born 1966, in Dalby, Queensland, Australia. Education: Attended Queensland University.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Vogel Literary Award for best Australian first novel, Commonwealth Writer's Prize for first fiction, and shortlisted for Victorian Premier's Award for best first novel, all 1992, all for Praise; Australia Council grant, to write second Novel; Miles Franklin Award, 2005, for The White Earth.

WRITINGS:

FICTION

Praise, [Australia], 1992, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 1993.

1988, St. Martin's Press, (New York, NY), 1997.

The White Earth, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2004, Soho (New York, NY), 2006.

Underground, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2006.

Also author of screenplay for adaptation of novel Praise, Strand, 2000; Bait (play), produced in Brisbane, Australia at Renegade Theatre; and Bottleshop Boy (screenplay).

SIDELIGHTS:

Andrew McGahan found literary success with his debut novel Praise, winner of the Vogel Literary Award for Best Australian first novel as well as the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book in the Pacific Region. His next novel, 1988, followed several years later and is a prequel to the events described in Praise. Both novels include autobiographical elements, including a destructive relationship steeped in sex and drug abuse. Because of such gritty details and the lack of direction and goals exhibited by his protagonist, McGahan's work has been identified by some critics to be the possible beginning of a new literary movement they describe as "dirty realism."

McGahan's protagonist in Praise, Gordon Buchanan, is a young man indifferent to a life of work and responsibility. Buchanan and his girlfriend Cynthia LaMonde are much more interested in a lifestyle of casual sex, plentiful drugs, and partying all night. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly emphasized that Praise is "a tale of twenty-something dissociation." McGahan, the reviewer commented, "writes with dark honesty in the spare prose style," adding that the work is "a good first novel with an honest ending." A Kirkus Reviews contributor considered Praise to be a "straightforward and effective novel" that lacks the "superficial glamour" of similar novels such as Bret Easton Ellis's Less than Zero. Although Praise was a best seller in Australia, the same reviewer felt it "unlikely to achieve the same success" in the United States, but declared it a "bold novel, distinct voice, and impressive debut." Terry Farrish, who described the work in Booklist as "a disturbing first novel," commented that, although McGahan's writing is "plain to the point of plodding," it is "very effective for portraying [a] world of lassitude and despair."

McGahan's next novel, 1988, again features Gordon Buchanan as the story's protagonist. In this narrative Buchanan makes friends with another young man, Wayne, and discovers the possibility of a six-month job in the Australian outback—a possible escape from the festivities surrounding Australia's bicentennial. They journey to the weather station with high expectations: Buchanan hopes to overcome writer's block and Wayne hopes to paint while they share a job observing weather. Alice Joyce, writing for Booklist, noted familiar character behaviors first exhibited in Praise, and commented that the plot action centers on the "bleak excesses suffered by this twenty-one year old protagonist." Joyce also noted: The "tedium of getting stoned and drunk … governs" the characters' "bleak empty days." Joanna M. Burkhardt, in an appraisal of 1988 for Library Journal, considered the characters "post-teenage adolescents aspiring to creativity but lacking motivation." Despite the lack of resolution or growth in McGahan's characters, Burkhardt maintained that the author captures the "essence of directionless youth."

In his next novel, The White Earth, McGahan tells the story of William, who, along with his mother, is taken in by his great uncle, John McGiver, after William's father dies. They all live in Kuran House, a beautiful mansion that is now run down and being encroached upon by growing subdivisions in 1990s Australia. When the old housekeeper, Mrs. Griffith, warns William to stay off the house's dilapidated second-floor where his uncle sleeps, William cannot resist his curiosity and, in his sickly state, begins to see people who may or may not be real. In the meantime, William begins to understand and form a bond with his intimidating great uncle. As a result, William gets involved in McGiver's efforts to stop legislation that would ultimately return surrounding lands to the aborigines.

In her review of The White Earth in the Library Journal, Leann Restaino referred to the novel as "an intriguing read in the tradition of the family saga." Whitney Scott, writing in Booklist, noted that the author "integrates a moody environment and a compelling plot" and also called the novel a "smoothly crafted tale." Several critics also commented on the author's ability to present a frightening tale. "McGahan knows how to lay out a spooky story with palpable characters and dramatic shifts of tone," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Daniel Fierman, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called the novel "a grim and supremely entertaining take on colonialism in Australia." Some reviewers referred to the Dickensian aspects of the novel. For example, Sally Murphy, writing on the AussieReviews.com Web site, commented: "Those who have read Dickens will draw parallels between Uncle John and Miss Havisham and be aware of the Dickensian feel to both the progression of the tale and the overall tone."

Underground, McGahan's fourth novel, begins with Australia's prime minister, Bernard James, who, despite his unassuming and rather insipid persona, begins make radical changes to Australian society. After locking up all of the country's activists, including Muslims, with the excuse that it is part of the war on terror, James is faced with the kidnapping of his brother, Leo James, by jihadists. All seems well when Leo is rescued by American operatives only to have Leo taken from the Americans by the Oz Underground. Leo narrates the story as he is held prisoner in the House of Representatives chamber in Canberra. "Author Andrew McGahan takes the reader from the comfortable zone of intellectual speculation about likely political futures for Australia to a fictional world that resonates as too familiar and too frightening," wrote Tony Smith in the Australian Quarterly. A contributor to the Noosabooklovers.com Blog site noted that the novel begins as "a fun romp from an accomplished writer with a vivid imagination."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Antipodes, December, 2004, A. Digger Stolz, review of The White Earth, p. 179; December, 2006, Emily Potter, "Andrew McGahan's The White Earth and the Ecological Poetics of Memory," p. 177.

Australian Book Review, August, 1992, review of Praise, p. 20; December, 1993, review of Praise, p. 24; October, 1995, review of 1988, p. 50.

Australian Quarterly, September-October, 2006, Tony Smith, review of Underground, p. 38.

Booklist, May 15, 1993, Terry Farrish, review of Praise, p. 1675; January 1, 1997, Alice Joyce, review of 1988, p. 821; January 1, 2006, Whitney Scott, review of The White Earth, p. 57.

Entertainment Weekly, January 20, 2006, Daniel Fierman, review of The White Earth, p. 74.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 1993, review of Praise, pp. 323-224; November 15, 1996, review of 1988, p. 1625; October 1, 2005, review of The White Earth, p. 1048.

Library Journal, January 1997, Joanna M. Burkhardt, review of 1988, p. 148; October 1, 2005, Leann Restaino, review of The White Earth, p. 67.

New York Times Book Review, January 15, 2006, Geoff Nicholson, review of The White Earth.

Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1993, review of Praise, p. 71; December 2, 1996, review of 1988, p. 41; September 19, 2005, review of The White Earth, p. 40.

ONLINE

AussieReviews.com,http://www.aussiereviews.com/ (April 13, 2007), Sally Murphy, review of The White Earth.

M/C Reviews,http://reviews.media-culture.org.au/ (November 30, 2005), Magdalena Ball, review of The White Earth.

Noosabooklovers.com Blog,http://noosabooklovers.com/ (January 27, 2007), review of Underground.