Best Australian Fiction of the 21st Century: #1 Dead Europe
November 19
Jo Case on Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas (2005)
‘Write what you know.’ Christos Tsiolkas both does and doesn’t stick to that oldest of writing adages. Read together, his novels are an ongoing examination of identity and politics: what it means to be an Australian, a migrant, a gay man. What it means to live in our contemporary world; in this place, at this moment in time. His novels ask questions about the world he knows, the world he inhabits. They delve into his own identity, his own place and context. But they do so in surprising and inventive ways. Tsiolkas takes what he knows as a springboard for exploring the psyche of contemporary Australia – and the wider world. His work is an example of ‘write what you know’ at its imaginative best.
Dead Europe, Tsiolkas’ third novel, is quite simply amazing: a modern masterpiece. A heady brew of realism, fable, mythology, horror and politics, it defies easy categorisation – and literary convention. The novel has two strands that gradually, improbably fuse. It opens, confrontingly, with the main character, Isaac, being told by his mother that every Christmas, the Jews take a Christian toddler, drain it of its blood, and drink it. His cosmopolitan, left-wing father berates his mother as a ‘peasant’ and tells the wide-eyed child that she is ‘scared of everything she doesn’t know’. This sets the scene for what is to follow: a novel that tackles all kinds of racism, particularly anti-Semitism, head-on.
It looks at the roots of racism and prejudice in fear of the unknown and (desperately uncomfortably) identifies a degree of that racism within all of the characters – and, by implication, all of us. It looks at the fate of Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall and capitulation to the ‘freedom’ of capitalism, and suggests that the decline of the old ways is a kind of death. With increased material wealth comes a hardening of the soul. It’s also about cycles of revenge and retaliation and the way they perpetuate ancient hatreds. And, of course, it’s a ghost story, a vampire novel, and a kind of embrace of the promise of Australia, the newest of New Worlds, as a place where, despite its imperfections and the atrocities of settlement, life can begin anew.
By all accounts, this was not a pleasant novel to write, and it’s often unpleasant to read. But it is intensely rewarding – a wild ride and a gripping novel of ideas that will stay with you long after you close its pages.
Jo Case is books editor of the Big Issue and publications manager at Readings.
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Comments
19 Nov 09 at 9:02
Brilliant result! I agree that 'Dead Europe' is amazing and a modern masterpiece. I was completely stunned when I first read it, by Christos's vision and ambition, his daring to tackle the big questions of European civilisation from the point of view of Melbourne. For me its greatest feat was the juxtaposing of the twin narratives, so disparate - folk fable + 21 century gritty realism - they seemed to belong to two different universes. In fact they were one and the same story. The novel's extraordinary structure said more about culture clash than words could possibly say. Took my breath away.
...19 Nov 09 at 11:22
This was on my list, too. The thing I like about Dead Europe is its bravery. As Jo says, it's not a pleasant book to read and in places it's quite out of control. But it's a novel trying to think its way past the the limits of politics in the early twenty-first century, and I don't think anyone else in the country has attempted anything similar.
...19 Nov 09 at 11:34
Yes, amazing bravery, I agree, and with your comment Jeff that possibly no one else in this country has attempted anything similar. Which is why it was so exciting to read, seemed to leap to new levels of ambition. And meant to say - I think your comments are spot-on Jo. I especially like your comments about Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 'freedom' of capitalism + hardening of the soul that comes with increased material wealth. Such complex issues which Christos explores so powerfully and, as you say, with such astonishing originality.
...28 Jul 10 at 10:18
This book is the most unreadable piece of rubbish that I have read in the last 20 years. I could only get to page 121 because it was such utter sludge, which the author attempted to liven up with tedious descriptions of gore and sex.
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