Thomas Keneally was born in 1936 and raised in the rugged expanse
of Australia. As a
young man, he planned to join the priesthood, but by 1960, on the
verge of the Vietnam
War, Keneally found the church in such moral turmoil that he
decided it was impossible
to go through with his ordination.
Keneally received his formal education in Sydney, Australia.
Over the past 30 years, he
has published over 25 novels, more than a dozen screenplays, and
several works of
non-fiction. These works include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith,
The Playmaker,
Season in Purgatory, A Family Madness, and Woman of the Inner Sea.
His work
has been nominated four times for the Booker Prize, which he won in
1982 for Schindler's
List. He won the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction, The Miles
Franklin Award, The
Critics Circle Award, and a Logie (Australian Emmy).
A self-described "literary biker," Keneally has traveled through
Australia, Iceland, Antarctica,
America, Eastern Europe, roaming across genres and topics, often
championing the underdog.
"I'm a writer who's always been hard to pin down," Keneally says,
"because I've sometimes
written about things that are none of my concern -- like the
American South or Antarctica or
Australian aboriginals or the Holocaust. I think I appeal to 'hells
angels' kind of writers."
Keneally has modeled many of his characters after the traditional
Australian hero -- the
"battler." "In America everyone admires successful men and women.
In Australia, they
suspect them. The Australian hero is the person to whom everything
has happened --
drought, fire, flood."
Oskar Schindler is a classic Keneally character -- conflicted
and flawed, the antithesis of a
one-dimensional altruistic saint. And Schindler's story is a
classic Keneally story -- an
ordinary man placed in a situation of enormous moral dilemma.
While researching Schindler's List, the author spent two years
traveling to eight countries, where he interviewed many of
Schindler's Jews and read the numerous testimonies which
are held at the Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority, Yad
Vasbem, Israel.
Keneally lives in California where he teaches in the graduate
writing program at the University of
California, Irvine, where he holds a Distinguished
Professorship.
Reading Group Discussion Points
Other Books With Reading Group Guides
A truly heroic story of the war and, like the tree planted in Oskar
Schindler's honor in Jerusalem, a fitting memorial to the fight of
one individual against the horror of Nazism.--Simon Wiesenthal
An astounding story...in this case the truth is far more powerful
than anything the imagination could invent.-- "Newsweek"
An extraordinary tale...no summary can adequately convey the
strategems and reverses and sudden twists of fortune...A notable
achievement.-- "New York Review of Books"
A mesmerizing novel based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industralist who saved and succored more than 1000 Jews from the Nazis at enormous financial and emotional expense. (June)
A truly heroic story of the war and, like the tree planted in Oskar
Schindler's honor in Jerusalem, a fitting memorial to the fight of
one individual against the horror of Nazism.--Simon Wiesenthal
An astounding story...in this case the truth is far more powerful
than anything the imagination could invent.-- "Newsweek"
An extraordinary tale...no summary can adequately convey the
strategems and reverses and sudden twists of fortune...A notable
achievement.-- "New York Review of Books"
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
