The fiction of Tim Winton: earthed and sacred

In The Fiction of Tim Winton, Lyn McCredden explores the work of a major Australian author who bridges the literary–popular divide.
Tim Winton has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award a record four times and has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His novels and short stories are widely studied in schools and universities, and have been lauded by critics both in Australia and internationally. Unusually for an Australian literary author, he is also one of the country’s most enduringly popular writers: Cloudstreet was voted “Australia’s favourite book” in a poll conducted by the ABC, his books regularly appear on bestseller lists, and his stories have been adapted for the stage, television, cinema and opera.
In this wide-ranging study of Winton’s work and career, McCredden considers how Winton has sustained a strong mainstream following while exploring complex themes and moving between genres. Attending to both secular and sacred frames of reference, she considers his treatment of class, gender, place, landscape and belonging, and shows how a compassion for human falling and redemption permeates his work. She demonstrates how his engagement with these recurring ideas has deepened and changed over time, and how he has moved between – and challenged – the categories of the “popular” and the “literary”.