{"id":3310,"date":"2024-09-03T07:23:41","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T21:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/?p=3310"},"modified":"2024-09-03T07:23:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T21:23:41","slug":"the-yield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-yield\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yield, Tara June Winch, Australia, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yield (<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>baayanha<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>): <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2026 the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. It\u2019s also the action made by Baiame (God figure) because sorrow, old age and pain bend and yield (\u2026) a bend in humiliation just like we bend at our knees and bow our heads. Bend, yield.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I liked the way Winch has used three story strands to tell her story \u2013 separate strands, yet still woven together. Albert Gondiwindi\u2019s dictionary (based on the dictionary work of Dr John Rudder <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Stan Grant <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>senior<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>) is, for me, the centre of this novel, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>focusing<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> not only <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the Wiradjuri words and their meanings but also <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>their connection to culture and stories.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Albert Gondiwindi’s Dictionary (Daily Advertiser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second strand – the Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf\u2019s letter to the British Society of Ethnography \u2013 is beautifully crafted, and gives a picture of a kind man who wants to do good, not for the recognition but simply because it is the right thing to do. The fact that he is German \u2013 Ferdinand Gr<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00fcn<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>blatt – <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> seems <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>somewhat <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>contrived<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>therefore <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>unrealistic, even though I understand that Winch <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>possibly <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>wanted to make a comparison between the sufferings of the First Nations\u2019 people and the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>plight of<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> German immigrants in Australia during WWI. That a twenty-first century assessment of Greenleaf\u2019s actions <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>should later relegate<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> him to the negative side of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>European<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\/Aboriginal Australian history feels completely wrong.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The third strand, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>which holds <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>everything together, is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>actually <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>much weaker than the other two strands. It centres around a part-Aboriginal woman August, who has been living in England for ten years, and who returns to Australia for her grandfather\u2019s funeral. Her grandfather, Albert, was responsible for her upbringing when <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>both <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>her parents end<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ed<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> up in gaol. Winch has created a fictional town (Massacre Plains) on the banks of a fictional river (Murrumby), somewhere in the northern part of the central west (NSW). When August arrives home she discovers that the place she has always called home is about to be repossessed by a mining company.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Tara June Winch (ABC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I do not disagree that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The Yield<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> is an important book (it won the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2020), and like <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Pemulway<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Dark Emu<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, it is making an attempt to pull the unknown, hidden side of Australia\u2019s history into the spotlight. I admire Winch for what she set out to achieve and what she did achieve; however, I feel that she has tried to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>juggle<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> too many issues \u2013 Aboriginal imprisonment, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic abuse, environmental abuse, fear and hatred (past and present), Australian apartheid\u2026, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>causing <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the final pages of August\u2019s story <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>descend into a sentimental mire of confusion and unreality. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is difficult to get a grasp on August as a character, and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the majority of<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> the more important members of the Gondiwindi family (or tribe) remain just a few centimetres out of reach: they never really develop into real people with real feelings. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Also<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> characters swing between being respected, well-educated members of White society and being completely <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>destitute<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. I feel that the story could have gained from better and clearer characteri<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the Dictionary and the Reverend\u2019s letter definitely propel the book to an award level, and even though August\u2019s story did not appeal to me, Winch has managed to shed light on many things that need to be out in the open and readily available for discussion. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yield (baayanha): \u2026 the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. It\u2019s also the action made by Baiame (God figure) because sorrow, old age and pain bend and yield (\u2026) a bend in humiliation just like we bend at our knees and bow our heads. Bend, yield. I liked the way Winch … <\/p>\n

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