Beachmasters by Thea Astley

First published: 1985

Type of work: Social morality

Time of work: The early 1980’s

Locale: Kristi, a South Pacific island

Principal Characters:

• Tommy Narota, the native leader of a rebellion, a simple and gentle man
• Gavi Salway, a half-caste boy whose involvement in the rebellion becomes his passage to adulthood
• District Agent Cordingley, the official British representative on the island
• Bonser, a rough Australian resident, a mechanic
• Pere Leyroud, the island priest
• Salway, a planter and longtime island resident, Gavi’s grandfather
• Woodful, the headmaster of the island school

The Novel

The external action of Beachmasters covers a few weeks—before, during, and after a short-lived native rebellion on Kristi, a remote South Pacific island. Although the name of the island differs, the novel is based on an actual South Pacific island rebellion that the controlling French and British powers quickly squelched. Shortly after the uprising, both in the novel and in reality, the island did gain its independence from colonial authority but was forced to join a federation of islands, thus losing its bid to become an independent nation. In addition to the use of historical events, Beachmasters also portrays the actual leader of the rebellion but uses the fictional name Tommy Narota.

The novel opens with a prologue in poetic prose introducing the setting, the major characters, and the events to be told. This short but complex evocation also explains that the story will be narrated in three tongues: English, French, and Seaspeak (the native islanders’ patois comprising their own language, English, and French). It soon becomes obvious that here is no ordinary novel, no surface story of adventure and intrigue. The prologue ends with the words: “It is time to storian,” using the Seaspeak word for “tell.”

Beachmasters does not fall short relating the story of the rebellion. It traces the leader’s personal history and development, his gathering of a ragged army and smuggled arms, and his naive involvement with the island’s French representative and land speculators from the United States, as well as their subsequent betrayal of him. It recounts the day of the rebellion: the easy takeover of the island, the comic ineptitude of the soldiers, and their brief triumph when the world press arrives to hear Tommy Narota address his followers. The novel also reveals the preordained failure, the natives’ quick disenchantment with the idea of revolution and with their leader, then his jailing, and finally the island’s absorption into a larger federation. With economy, the elegant prose, forever bordering on poetry, unfolds these events, the narrator repeating throughout: “So quick to tell. So long in the happening.”

At the end of the novel, not much has changed politically on Kristi. What has altered, though, are the internal lives of those who survive the rebellion. The personal stories of Kristi’s British, French, and Australian residents— the priest, schoolmaster, shopkeepers, planters, government officials, and their wives—weave themselves into the fabric of the main narrative. As the action swirls around them, they examine more closely their stunted lives, their failures, selfishness, frustrations, unhappiness, and spiritual desolation. The account of Gavi Salway, who learns that he is half native, receives its share of the narrative as well and concludes with a dramatic scene between him and Tommy Narota. Gavi alone achieves a personal victory through the failed rebellion: He has accepted his heritage and made his passage into manhood.

The Characters

Although Beachmasters is not long (around two hundred pages), it introduces a wide range of characters and gives life to each one, whether major or minor.

Tommy Narota, the rebel leader, appears early in the narrative, then disappears for the most part until the end. Still, he remains a central if shadowy figure, his importance a consequence of the other characters’ references to him and of the events that unfold at his bidding. Gavi, who takes a more active part in the events, emerges as a memorable character through his behavior, responses, and interior thoughts, as well as through the way others respond to him.

Such is the indirect manner through which all the characters develop, even when they take the stage only briefly. Other narrative devices are also employed, including references to letters and newspaper clippings, descriptions of snapshots, and the discovery of a diary.

Of the colonial residents on the island, two stand out among a strikingly colorful gallery: District Agent Cordingley, a major personage, and Chloe of the Dancing Bears, a minor character. Cordingley, through his actions, speech, response to the rebellion, and treatment of the natives, is both a human being with more than his share of frailty and a caricature of the British colonial official. In addition to Cordingley’s own inadvertent revelation of his pomposity, failure, racism, and cowardliness, his wife’s and others’ reactions to his attitudes and blunders round out his characterization.

Although appearing but once, Chloe of the Dancing Bears—a retired prostitute who long ago deserted her British planter parents—makes an unforgettable impression, beginning with her introduction: “Chloe of the Dancing Bears was conscious, oh too aware, that her face was disappearing.” Through an interior monologue, she reveals her past history: how she had entertained the American officers during and after World War II, then stayed on, and on, until leaving became impossible. In the midst of the revolution, Letty Trumble, the wife of a British official, arrives at Chloe’s door and asks for protection from the rebels who have been harassing her. The two women—Chloe the libertine and Letty the prude—respond to each other in such a way that both their characters develop fully as the scene reaches its crescendo, and Letty begs Chloe to tell about her life: “‘Tell me,’ she begged, . . . ‘As we are all whores, tell me.’”

Never directly, always with economy and with unerring artistry, the characters appear to develop themselves. Unintentionally, they let it be known whether they are simple but noble fools like Tommy Narota, Pere Leyroud, and Headmaster Woodful; corrupt opportunists like Bonser and the French official; inept and intolerant beings like Cordingley and many of his colleagues; or hollow shells like Chloe and Letty. These characterizations in miniature possess an admirable wholeness in spite of their fragmentation.

Critical Context

Beachmasters, Astley’s ninth novel, may well be a pivotal work in her career, for it has received international recognition and has helped to establish her not only as an Australian writer but also as an important figure in world literature in English. Also, this work incorporates the artistry that has always marked her work and takes it to new heights of achievement.

Astley has long battled against Australian critics who have called her intricate language and structure pretentious and stilted. Yet Australian critics, along with international critics, have at last accepted those qualities as an integral part of her work, which involves far more than a record of Australian life or a story of island rebellion. Pushing language to its limits, she attempts to grasp the moment of pure vision and metaphysical awareness that will transcend the spiritual desolation that she sees afflicting modern society.

Bibliography

Goldsworthy, Kerryn. “Thea Astley’s Writing: Magnetic North,” in Meanjin Quarterly. XLII (December, 1983), p. 478.

Young, Vernon. “Revolution Among the Flame Trees,” in The New York Times Book Review. XCI (June 22, 1986), p. 12.