Kenneth Cook

In the town of Bundanyabba a young schoolmaster discovers gambling, ruins himself financially, then continues to plunge headlong towards his own destruction.

Wake in Fright

Megan Gressor

Mice set about to recreate human society using the literature, methods, and morals of mankind as guides.

Play Little Victims

"Je n'aime pas les koalas. Ces sales bêtes, aussi hargneuses que stupides, n'ont pas un poil de gentillesse. Leur comportement social est effroyable - les mâles n'arrêtent pas de se tabasser ou de voler les femelles de leurs semblables. [...] Leur fourrure est infestée de vermine. Ils ronflent. Leur ressemblance avec les nounours est une vile supercherie. Il n'y a rien de bon chez eux. Sans parler du fait qu'un jour, un koala a essayé de me jouer un tour pendable." Avec ses redoutables crocodiles, ses excentriques mineurs d'opales, ses koalas féroces et ses cochons sauvages assoiffés de sang, l'impitoyable bush australien reste un territoire indompté. Et ce n'est pas Kenneth Cook qui aurait pu le soumettre ! Pour ce qui devait être l'un de ses plus grands succès de librairie, Cook a réuni peu avant sa disparition ces histoires courtes toutes plus hilarantes les unes que les autres, inspirées par ses tribulations à travers l'Australie. D'après lui, chacune de ces quinze rencontres avec la faune sauvage et ses frissons inattendus s'est déroulée comme il le raconte ici ; mais jamais il n'aurait osé les incorporer à ses romans tant elles paraissent incroyables. Et c'est précisément parce qu'elles sont tout à fait véridiques qu'il n'attendait pas qu'on le croie ! Dépaysement garanti, dans un grand éclat de rire.

Le koala tueur et autres histoires du bush

El canguro alcohólico

The controller stood back. 'Right, ' he said. 'Spin 'em!' The man flipped the piece of wood and the coins spun up into the air above his head and dropped down on to the carpet. There was silence. Wake in Fright tells the tale of John Grant's journey into an alcoholic, sexual and spiritual nightmare.

Wake in fright

The controller stood back. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Spin ’em!’ The man flipped the piece of wood and the coins spun up into the air above his head and dropped down on to the carpet. There was silence. Wake in Fright tells the tale of John Grant’s journey into an alcoholic, sexual and spiritual nightmare. It is the original and the greatest outback horror story. Bundanyabba and its citizens will forever haunt its readers. Kenneth Cook was born in Sydney. Wake in Fright, which drew on his time as a journalist in Broken Hill, was first published in 1961 when Cook was thirty-two. It was published in England and America, translated into several languages, and a prescribed text in schools. Cook wrote twenty-one books in a variety of genres, and was well known in film circles as a scriptwriter and independent film-maker. He died in 1987 at the age of fifty-seven. ‘Wake in Fright deserves its status as a modern classic. Cook’s prose is masterful and the story is gripping from the first page to the last.’ M.J. Hyland ‘A classic novel which became a classic film. The Outback without the sentimental bulldust. Australia without the sugar coating.’ Robert Drewe ‘A true dark classic of Australian literature.’ J.M. Coetzee ‘Wake in Fright is a classic of the ugly side of Menzies’ Australia, its brutality, its drunkenness, its anxiety to crush all sensibility. All of this is harrowingly reacorded —the destruction of a young soul fresh to Australia—in Kenneth Cook’s remarkable novel.’ Thomas Keneally

Wake In Fright

Fear is the Rider

Wake in Fright tells the tale of John Grant's journey into an alcoholic, sexual and spiritual nightmare. It is the original and the greatest outback horror story. Bundanyabba and its citizens will forever haunt its readers. This edition includes an introduction by Peter Temple and an afterword by David Stratton. Wake in Fright was made into a film in 1971, arguably the greatest film ever made in Australia. It starred Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty, and Jack Thompson in his first screen role. Lost for many years, the restored film was re-released to acclaim in 2009. Kenneth Cook was born in Sydney in 1929. Wake in Fright was published in 1961 to high praise in New York and London, and launched Cook's writing career. Cook wrote twenty-one books in all, along with screenplays and scripts for radio and TV. Peter Temple is one of Australia's finest writers. His novel Truth won the 2010 Miles Franklin Award and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award. Temple has written nine novels and has been published in more than twenty countries. David Stratton is co-presenter of At the Movies on ABC television and film critic for the Australian. He has also served as a President of the International Critics Jury for the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, written three books and is currently lecturing in Film History at the University of Sydney. textclassics.com.au 'It might be fifty years since the novel appeared yet it retains its freshness, its narrative still compels, and its bleak vision still disquiets...Cook can make us feel the heat, see the endless horizon, hear the sad singing on a little train as it traverses the monotonous plain.' Peter Temple, from the Introduction 'Wake in Fright deserves its status as a modern classic. Cook's prose is masterful and the story is gripping from the first page to the last.' M. J. Hyland 'A classic novel which became a classic film. The Outback without the sentimental bulldust. Australia without the sugar coating.' Robert Drewe 'Wake in Fright is a classic of the ugly side of Menzies' Australia, its brutality, its drunkenness, its anxiety to crush all sensibility. All of this is harrowingly reacorded - the destruction of a young soul fresh to Australia - in Kenneth Cook's remarkable novel.' Thomas Keneally 'A true dark classic of Australian literature.' J. M. Coetzee '...a kind of outback Lord of the Flies...Written entirely from Grant's point of view, the prose is at first straightforward, the landscape and its people evoked simply and vividly. But later, as Grant descends into his own personal hell and finally to the depths of despair, the writing takes on the quality of a delirious dream. The concluding narrative twists will rock both Grant (and the reader) back on their heels.' Crime Time UK ‘A chilling outback horror and an Australian classic.’ Guardian, Top 10 tales from the frontier

Wake In Fright: Text Classics

Despertar a l'infern

John Grant es un joven profesor de un pueblo de la Australia interior. De camino a Sydney, donde debe tomar un avión hacia unas merecidas vacaciones, Grant se detiene en Bundanyabba, una tórrida y polvorienta localidad minera en la que todo el mundo se aburre. Después de dejar la maleta en el hotel, se dirige a tomar una cerveza. Pero Grant no sabe que en realidad se dirige al infierno de su propia destrucción. Lo que tenía que ser una breve estancia se convierte en cinco largas noches que sumergen a Grant en una pesadilla de mala suerte, alcohol y juego que lo arruinarán económica y moralmente. Pánico al amanecer es una novela de suspense psicológico que muestra cómo a veces somos nosotros mismos los arquitectos de nuestros peores males, y cómo incluso en las peores circunstancias siempre persiste una nota de esperanza en la capacidad de resistencia humana. «Una de esas novelas que debes tener siempre cerca» Weekend Australian «De una violencia y una fuerza poco comunes. Esta novela no se olvida», Lire

Pánico al amanecer

Relatos humorístico de la Australia profunda

El koala asesino

Jacqueline Kent

Ken Gilroy

The Killer Koala

Kangourou suicidaire, koalas explosifs, wombats vindicatifs, chercheurs d’opales amateurs de paris stupides ou Aborigènes roublards, c’est toute une faune bigarrée et hilarante qui peuple ces nouvelles de l’Australie des marges. Des histoires plus vraies que nature, racontées avec un sens inné du gag par le maître des lettres australiennes.

Kenneth Cook

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