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'In the late afternoon of a day in February, that hottest of Australian summer months, when a brutal sun stood bronze above the river flats which you may see from the dormitory windows of Chatterton, Charles came to the school with his mother, walking from the railway station to the gates by a private path across a burnt, untidy field, overhung with Cape lilacs that still drooped, dusty and melancholy…In the lower part of his belly fear kicked and pulsed like a child in the womb, ready to be born.
'Fifteen-year-old Charles Fox is sent away to boarding school, innocent, alone and afraid. There one of his masters develops an intense attachment to him. But when Charles meets Margaret, a girl staying at a nearby farm for the holidays, he is besotted, and a passionate, unforgettable romance begins. ' (Publication summary : Text Classics)
Notes
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Dedication: To W.G.C. (Dedication accompanied by a note to W.G.C. from the author.)
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Epigraph: '...To be free to choose is not enough. Though the young desire it, they cannot use that freedom, but must be forced into the decision of choice by good or evil circumstances which while they can perceive them they cannot control...' (Michael Paul: The Anatomy of Failure).
Note: In his foreword to the novel, first included in the 1963 edition, Douglas Stewart says: 'Mackenzie told me that he had invented the author, "Michael Paul", and the quotation from Michael Paul's alleged writings from which he had taken his title. He was always amused that none of his critics had spotted this harmless little hoax...'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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26 Aussie Books You Must Read
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 24 January 2015; (p. 18-19) 'With Australia Day upons us...26 great Australian Books that have helped shape and define our nation...' -
Kenneth ‘Seaforth’ Mackenzie, The Young Desire It
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 74 no. 3 2014;
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
The Year’s Work in Fiction
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 59 no. 1 2014; (p. 124-143)
— Review of Elephants in the Bush and Other Yamatji Yarns 2013 single work prose life story ; An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story ; The Incredible Here and Now 2013 single work novel ; Elemental 2013 single work novel ; Now Showing 2013 selected work short story ; The Heaven I Swallowed 2013 single work novel ; Stella's Sea 2013 single work novel ; The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel ; Inland 1988 single work novel ; White Light 2013 selected work short story ; Knitting and Other Stories : Margaret River Short Story Competition 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Rosie Project 2013 single work novel ; Lives of the Dead 2013 selected work short story ; The Double (And Other Stories) 2013 selected work short story ; Harmless 2013 single work novel ; Letters to the End of Love 2013 single work novel ; Eyrie 2013 single work novel ; The Swan Book 2013 single work novel -
Book Review : The Young Desire It
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , May vol. 6 no. 2 2014;
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
Two Nearly Perfect Novels
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Crikey , August 2013;
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel 'Exceptional novels recovered from oblivion: Jim Morgan reads “Stoner” and “The Young Desire It” with great admiration, and recalls blood on the pages of another volume in the farmyard. PLUS: David Malouf live events.'
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New Australian Books
1938
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 15 January vol. 10 no. 1 1938; (p. 4)
— Review of Starry Ages 1937 selected work prose essay ; The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel ; Gentleman Harry Retires : A Novel 1937 single work novel ; Sue Verney 1937 single work novel ; Sheep Without a Shepherd 1937 single work novel ; Catherine Helen Spence : A Study and an Appreciation 1937 single work biography -
Untitled
1964
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 24 no. 1 1964; (p. 65-67)
— Review of The Letters of Rachel Henning 1952 selected work correspondence biography ; Five Senses : Selected Poems 1963 selected work poetry ; Poems 1957 selected work poetry ; The Madeleine Heritage 1928 single work novel ; Capricornia : A Novel 1938 single work novel ; The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
The Young Desire It
1937
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 10 November vol. 58 no. 3013 1937; (p. 2)
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
Psychology of a Schoolboy
1937
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sun , 11 November 1937;
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
Untitled
1937
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Sun , 14 November 1937;
— Review of The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel -
Gays and Writing : Thirties Images
1984
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Gay Information , no. 14-15 1984; (p. 46-50) -
Biographical Notes
1939
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Desiderata , May no. 40 1939; (p. 3-4) -
Kenneth (Seaforth) Mackenzie 1913-55
1980
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Australia's Writers 1980; (p. 243-250) -
Seaforth Mackenzie's Fiction : Another View
1966
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 26 no. 1 1966; (p. 25-39) -
The Genesis of a Writer : The Early Years of Kenneth Mackenzie
1968
single work
biography
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 3 no. 4 1968; (p. 254-270)
Awards
- 1937 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal