''Prelude to Christopher'' is a 1934 novel by

Eleanor Dark Eleanor Dark AO (26 August 190111 September 1985) was an Australian writer whose novels included '' Prelude to Christopher'' (1934) and '' Return to Coolami'' (1936), both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for literature, ...

(1901–1985). It was awarded the

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

in 1934.

Plot summary

The storyline is

nonlinear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...

and of interest to those interested in the establishment of modernism in the arts in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The story centers on a

Eugenicist Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

experiment gone awry on a remote island. The repercussions of the incident play out in a young woman's decision whether to have a child. A recurring symbol in the book is a painting of the island with the doomed eugenicist's experiment.

Reviews

A reviewer in ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' noted that "It stands apart from the ordinary run of Australian fiction because of the author's mastery over her material, and her capacity for making every phrase tell...Not many Australian writers have exhibited such technical efficiency in a first novel." After the book's re-issue by Halstead Press in 2011, Anne Maxwell, of the University of Melbourne, found that "Arguably, part of the emotive power of ''Prelude to Christopher'' stems from the fact that it contains autobiographical elements; indeed, some critics maintain that it was based on a dark family secret." Maxwell notes that Dark's mother committed suicide and that her father was a sexual predator and tyrant. She continued: "Underlining the extent of Dark’s investment in the finer emotions, especially the human capacity for compassion and empathy and the ability to hit back at the ideal of rational efficiency, is the novel’s non-realist style.""Education, Literature and the Emotions: A Salute to Eleanor Dark’s ''Prelude to Christopher''" by Anne Maxwell ''JASAL'', vol. 12 no. 1, 2012
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External links

Varuna: The Writers House

References

Eugenics in fiction Novels by Eleanor Dark 1934 Australian novels ALS Gold Medal winning works Nonlinear narrative novels {{Australia-book-stub