Marcus Clarke

Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke ( born April 24, 1846 in London, † August 2, 1881 in Melbourne) was an Australian writer.

Life and work

He came as the son of a London lawyer with 18 years of Melbourne. In 1867 he joined the staff at " ARGUS " ( daily newspaper ), where he amassed factual material about convict camp in Australia. 1870-1872 was published the novel " life sentence " ( original title: "For the Term of his Natural Life " ) in a series in "Australian Journal". Clarke cryptically describes ostensibly the brutal convict system in Tasmania, the sensational potential of the dark material. The subsequent drastic reduction (initial test: the hero at the end of 20 years of unspeakable suffering through returning to civilian life to " compensate " ) and change with a new tragic end caused a closed And substantial work. The novel attracted worldwide attention and is one of the strongest works in the 19th century of Australian literature.

Extract from the preface of the author: " ... Charles Reade (English lawyer and writer - 1814-1884 ) describes the states in an English prison, and Victor Hugo shows how it is with a French prisoner after serving his sentence .... Some of the events narrated here are undoubtedly tragic and awful I felt it to be essential, however, to report them,. because there are things that have actually happened and will infallibly happen again and again, if the abuses by which it are not eliminated .... " Melbourne, Australia MC

Content: First Book - The Sea, 1827; Second Book - Macquarie Harbour, 1833; Book Three - Port Arthur, 1838; Book Four - Norfolk Iceland, 1846