Author Description

About Kangaroo Kangaroo is a work of literary fiction by British author D. H. Lawrence, published in 1923. ‘They arrived at Mr Cooley’s chambers punctually. It was a handsome apartment with handsome jarrah furniture, dark and suave, and some very beautiful rugs. Mr Cooley came at once: and he was a kangaroo. His face was long and lean and pendulous, with eyes set close together behind his pince-nez: and his body was stout but firm. He was a man of forty or so, hard to tell, swarthy, with short-cropped dark hair and a smallish head carried rather forward on his large but sensitive, almost shy body. He leaned forward in his walk, and seemed as if his hands didn’t quite belong to him.’ Australia is the backdrop of D. H. Lawrence's eighth book, Kangaroo, completed in only 45 days while residing just south of Sydney in 1922, although he later made revisions. Regarded as a vaguely autobiographical account, Lawrence skilfully weaves evocative and sympathetic portrayals of the country with an intimate exploration of his own personal political convictions. English novelist Richard Somers leaves Europe following World War I in search of fresh opportunities, and journeys to Australia with his wife Harriet to see the people and their way of life in this immense land full of possibilities. But all too soon, the Somers find themselves embroiled in an all-important conflict concerning Australia's political destiny. Richard finds himself in a dangerous tug-of-war between the seductive fascist Kangaroo and the fierce communist Willies Struthers, as he confronts the past and his own beliefs.