Capricornia (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Alfred Jackson
- First Published: 1938
- Type of Work: Social satire
- Time of Work: From the 1880’s to the 1930’s
- Setting: “Capricornia,” Australia
- Principal Characters: Oscar Shillingsworth, Mark Shillingsworth, Norman Shillingsworth, Tim O’Cannon, Tocky
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Race, Nineteenth century, 1910’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, Ethics, Caste systems, Railroads, Australia or Australians
- Locales: Australia
The Novel
Capricornia opens with a brief chapter that describes the bloody arrival of the white man in “Capricornia,” Xavier Herbert’s fictionalized version of Australia’s Northern Territory. It serves to establish the themes of the whites’ rapacity and their destruction of aboriginal culture.
Thereafter, the first portion of the novel chronicles the fortunes of the Shillingsworth brothers, who arrive in Port Zodiac, Capricornia’s principal city, in 1904 and take up positions in the civil service. Oscar soon rises in Capricornian society, getting...
[The entire page is 2039 words long]
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