The Tyrant’s Novel (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Keneally
- First Published: 2003
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 2003
- Setting: Two detention camps, in an undisclosed Western country and an unnamed Middle Eastern country
- Principal Characters: Alan Sheriff, The narrator, Alice, Tyrant/Great Uncle, Sarah Manners Sheriff, Andrew Kennedy, Grace Kennedy, Matt McBrien, Sonia McBrien, Mrs. Carter, Private Hugo Carter, Peter Collins, Louise James, Captain McCauley
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Dictators, Husbands, Authors or writers, Novelists, Captivity, Refugees, Middle East, Australia or Australians, Heads of state, 2000’s
- Locales: Middle East
Thomas Keneally's The Tyrant’s Novel is openly based on an article written by Mark Bowden that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 2002. Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down (1999), in this article offered readers an in-depth and somewhat personal look into Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, life under his regime, and his employment of ghostwriters. It was the exploration of the latter that inspired The Tyrant’s Novel, which, in Keneally's fashion, explores political, historical, and moral issues affecting its characters and readers alike.
Set in an...
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