The Survivor (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Keneally
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Tragicomedy
- Time of Work: The mid-1960’s
- Setting: Australia and Antarctica
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, Sex or sexuality, Education or educators, Betrayal, Guilt, College life, Death or dying, Australia or Australians, Exploration or explorers, Antarctica, Polar regions
- Locales: Australia, Antarctica
Characters Discussed
Alexander Ramsey, a former Antarctic explorer, the director of extension studies at a provincial Australian university. A large, homely man of sixty-two, Ramsey is debilitated with guilt at having survived Stephen Leeming, the leader of his Antarctic expedition, and at having slept with Leeming’s wife before the journey. Oversensitive to references to Leeming, Ramsey begins the novel by walking out of a Rotary Club meeting because of a casual inquiry. Preoccupied and neglectful of his university work, Ramsey thinks that he is approaching madness when he...
[The entire page is 855 words long]
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