The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Keneally, Thomas
(kn´l) (KEY) , 1935–, Australian novelist, b. Sydney. For a time a student of religion, and later of law, Keneally has ranged over a wide spectrum in his many novels, including the American Civil War, Nazi Germany, and rugby. Keneally insists that he must try to re-create the experience of his subjects, thus the authentic flavor of works such as Schindler’s Ark (1982, published in the United States as Schindler’s List). Probably his best-known work, this novelistic treatment of a businessman who saved the lives of many Jews during the Holocaust was the source of the Oscar-winning 1993 film. His other novels include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972), A Family Madness (1985), To Asmara (1989), Woman of the Inner Sea (1993), A River Town (1995), Office of Innocence (2003), and The Tyrant’s Novel (2004). He has also written several nonfiction works; they include The Great Shame (1999), which explores the fates of the 19th-century Irish forced to immigrate to Australia; American Scoundrel (2002), a biography of the infamous politician, Civil War general, and murderer Daniel Sickles; and A Commonwealth of Thieves (2006), the story of Australia’s late 18th-century beginnings as a colony for transported prisoners.
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