Up Close and Personal
… an interview with the author
“I read somewhere that an astonishing number of Sydney people have never been much further west than the Great Dividing Range,” muses Edward Myles Gordon, as he discusses his debut novel ‘Turned Skyward’. “Likewise, many people in Outback towns never get beyond the nearest big town. That interests me.
“Now, I’ve sat on both sides of the fence, so I think I’ve got a good vantage point. I want to take my readers on a journey into their land, to introduce them to their people, if you like.
He continues: “I like to think of myself as a traveller, but for me travel needn’t involve points on a map. In the country town where I come from there’s ‘travellers’ and backpackers moving through. Yet, for me, the real colour and discovery comes from those that live there – those that may never leave. It’s their journeys within and detours of discovery that hold the fascination for me.”
“I think they may be surprised to find themselves mirrored there through very real characters that laugh, feel, hope…just like they do.”
There is a definite sense that for Gordon – who was raised on a sheep station – this topic is very personal.
The land is in his blood, and so are its people.
Farmers struggle, youngsters scramble to leave … Gordon has seen this first-hand.
“I’ve been raised out there so I have a deep connection with the land and those who are apart of it. There’s a lot to be said for life’s hard times – they make you search your soul. There’s drought, death, destruction but a certain resilience that develops as a result, which is an intrinsic part of the people’s spirit.”
“Farmers have a very tough gig, but as hard as it may be they are spurred on by hope for a better season, a turn of fortune. There’s a lot to be gained from that mentality of riding out the tough times and never losing that hope - and to take your chances as they come along.”
And the characters, although fictional, Gordon raises his hat to the locals.
He explains: “When you move away from the city you find that people are a lot more willing to show themselves – there’s less of a facade. Ask a straight question and you get a straight answer. I find that directness appealing. It’s a simple life. That makes for a lot of integrity.”
But can integrity alone sustain these communities in circumstances promising very little by way of prosperity? What keeps us tied to the land in the face of such adversity?
“I’ve been there myself,” admits Gordon. “Whether we are from the city or from the country there’s that sense of striving for something more, looking on the other side of the fence. Yet, when most of the girls leave a small town, what of its future? What of the boys left behind - these growing men of farming stock, with little chance of finding their girl, a family - a future? The balance is upset, but new experiences are pivotal for growth – we all want to experience more. These are hard questions.”
In ‘Turned Skyward’, Gordon doesn’t claim to answer these ‘hard questions’.
However, by laying bare the hearts of those that try, Australia’s latest literary voice prompts us to pose our own.
