Picnic at Hanging Rock
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| Picnic at Hanging Rock | |
.jpg/200px-Picnic_at_Haning_Rock_(book).jpg) Picnic at Hanging Rock novel cover |
|
| Author | Joan Lindsay |
|---|---|
| Country |  Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | F. W. Cheshire |
| Publication date | 1967 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA & reissue ISBN 0-670-81828-3 (1987 Viking ed.) |
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it in one day[citation needed] at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in paperback by Penguin in 1970.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Picnic at Hanging Rock is about a trip by a party of 6 girls from an exclusive private school, who travel to Hanging Rock in Victoria's Mount Macedon area for a picnic on St. Valentine's Day, 1900. The excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish after climbing the rock. Only one girl is ever seen again; no reason for their disappearance is ever given, and the one girl who returned had apparently fallen and hit her head, according to a doctor who examined her, and has no memory of what had happened to the others.
[edit] The mystery
The unsolvable mystery of the disappearances was arguably the key to the success of both the book and the subsequent film. This aroused enough lasting public interest that in 1980, a book of hypothetical solutions (by Yvonne Rosseau) was published, called The Murders at Hanging Rock[1].
In fact, Lindsay's original draft included a final chapter in which the mystery was resolved. At her editor's suggestion, Lindsay removed it prior to publication. Chapter Eighteen, as it is known, was not widely known until it was published posthumously in 1987 as The Secret of Hanging Rock by Angus & Robertson Publishing.[2]
The novel is written in the form of a false document, implying that it is based on a true story and even begins and ends with a pseudo-historical prologue and epilogue, adding to the overall mystery-feel. However, while Hanging Rock is a real geological feature near Mt Macedon, the story is entirely fictional. Lindsay has done little to dispel the myth that the story is based on truth, in many interviews either refusing to confirm it was entirely fiction, or hinting that parts of the book were fictitious, and others were not. 14 February 1900 was however actually a Wednesday, not a Saturday as depicted in the story.
14 February 1922 was also the day of Joan Lindsay's wedding in London to the art historian Sir Daryl Lindsay.[citation needed]
Appleyard College was to some extent based on Clyde Girl's Grammar School at East St Kilda, Melbourne, which Joan Lindsay attended as a day-girl while in her teens. Incidentally, this school was transferred to the town of Woodend, Victoria, in the immediate vicinity of Hanging Rock in 1919.[citation needed]
[edit] Film
In 1973, it was optioned as a film by producer Patricia Lovell, with Peter Weir as director. The film version of Picnic at Hanging Rock premiered at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide on 8 August 1975. It became the first film of the Australian New Wave, and is arguably Australia's first international hit film. [3]
[edit] Stage
Picnic at Hanging Rock was adapted by playwright Laura Annawyn Shamas in 1987 and published by Dramatic Publishing Company. Subsequently, it has had many productions in the U.S., Canada, and Australia; it was last produced in Jan. 2008 by Dawson College, Montréal, Canada.
A stage musical version has been created by Robert Johns (adapter) and Brian Spence (composer). It premiered at Chichester's Minerva Theatre in West Sussex.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Rousseau, Y. (1980) The Murders at Hanging Rock. Scribe Publications, Fitzroy, Australia. ISBN 0 908011 02 4
- ^ Lindsay, J. (1987) The Secret of Hanging Rock. Angus & Robertson, Australia. ISBN 0 207 15550 X
- ^ [accessdate=2007-08-05]
- ^ SpenceMusic - Picnic At Hanging Rock - The Musical
