The Sound of One Hand Clapping (novel)
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 First edition | |
| Author | Richard Flanagan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Pan Macmillan, Australia |
Publication date | 1997 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | Print Hardback & Paperback |
| Pages | 425 pp |
| ISBN | 0-7329-0896-5 |
| OCLC | 37931627 |
| 823 21 | |
| LC Class | PR9619.3.F525 S68 1997 |
| Preceded by | Death of a River Guide (1994) |
| Followed by | Gould's Book of Fish (2001) |
The Sound of One Hand Clapping is a 1997 novel by Australian author Richard Flanagan.[1] The title is adapted from the famous Zen kōan of Hakuin Ekaku. The Sound of One Hand Clapping was Flanagan's second novel. The novel tells the story of Slovenian immigrants.[2]
The book focuses the relationship between a woman, Sonja Buloh, and her father Bojan. Bojan is a Slovenian immigrant from the post-World War II period who came to work on the Tasmanian Hydroelectric Schemes, and a drunkard. While working on a remote construction camp in the central highlands in the winter of 1954, when Sonja was just three, Bojan's wife walked into a blizzard never to be seen again and leaving Bojan to raise his daughter. When Sonja returns to visit Tasmania and her father in 1989 as a balanced middle-aged woman, the past begins to intrude, changing both their lives forever.[3]
Awards
- Victorian Premier's Literary Award, Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 1998: winner[4]
- Miles Franklin Literary Award, 1998: shortlisted
- Booksellers Choice Award, 1998: winner
Notes
- Dedication: "For Archie Flanagan, Helen Flanagan, Anton Smolej. Forgive me its failings, but I tell it with love."
