True History of the Kelly Gang is a historical novel by Australian writer Peter Carey. It was first published in Brisbane by the University of Queensland Press in 2000. It won the 2001 Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the same year. Despite its title, the book is fiction and a variation on the Ned Kelly story.

Product Description

In a dazzling act of ventriloquism, Peter Carey gives Ned Kelly a voice so wild, passionate and original that it is impossible not to believe that the famous bushranger himself is speaking from beyond the grave. True History of the Kelly Gang is the song of Australia, and it sings its protest in a voice at once crude and delicate, menacing and heart-wrenching. Carey gives us Ned Kelly as orphan, as Oedipus, as horse thief, farmer, bushranger, reformer, bank-robber, police-killer and, finally, as his country's beloved Robin Hood.

In an effort to attract foreign readers to the story, the book's American publisher, Alfred Knopf, heralded the book as a "great American novel", even though the novel takes place entirely within Australia. The claim that this book is an "American novel" appears to be based on the fact that author Peter Carey, an Australian, has lived in New York for many years.

彼得,凯里(Peter Carey,1943— )是澳大利亚当代著名作家。迄今为止,他已经出版七部长篇小说、多部儿童文学作品和短篇小说集。这些作品大都获得澳大利亚历年最重要的文学奖项。其中,长篇小说《幸福》(Bliss,1981)获迈尔斯·弗兰克林奖。一九八五年这部小说被改编成电影后,一举夺得包括“最佳故事片奖”在内的澳大利亚电影三项大奖。一九八八年出版的长篇小说《奥斯卡与露辛达》(Oscar ＆ Lucindar)获英国最高文学奖项布克奖和迈尔斯·弗兰克林奖。而《凯利帮真史》(True History of the Kelly Gang,2000)一经出版便引起轰动,二00一年同时获得英国布克奖和英联邦文学奖。在英国文学和英联邦文学中,同一个作家两次获得布克奖的现象是不多见的。

彼得·凯里出生在澳大利亚维多利亚州一个普通人家,其父是汽车推销员。他毕业于蒙纳西大学,学的是自然科学,但是他酷爱写作,毕业后先后在澳大利亚和伦敦多家广告公司工作。广告公司独特的、充满开拓精神的氛围给了他很大的影响。他和几位同事,包括莫里斯·卢里和巴里·奥克利,后来都成了澳大利亚著名作家。一九七四年,彼得·凯里出版了他的第一部短篇小说集《历史上的胖子》(The Fat Man in History),一举成名。他的第二部短篇小说集《战争的罪恶》(War Crimes)一九七九年出版后,好评如潮,一九八0年获新南威尔士州总理文学奖。评论家指出：“他终于使澳大利亚文学走出狭隘的地方主义角落,具有了新的广泛性和复杂性。”他站在历史的高度,满怀神圣的使命感,潜心创作三十年,成为澳大利亚当代最受欢迎、最有成就的作家之一。在澳大利亚,人们普遍认为,他是堪与博尔赫斯、加西亚·马尔克斯以及唐纳德·巴塞尔姆媲美的文学大师,是继帕特里克·怀特之后屈指可数的有特色、有深度的澳大利亚作家之一。