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Article: AUSTRALIAN WRITER'S `JACK MAGGS' AN INVENTIVE HOMAGE TO DICKENS.(Lifestyle)(Review)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- February 18, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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At the opening of ``Jack Maggs,'' the sixth and latest novel by Australian writer Peter Carey, the title character arrives by coach in London in mid-April 1837. ``He was a tall man in his forties,'' the extravagant narrative informs us, ``so big in the chest and broad in the shoulder that his fellows on the bench seat had felt the strain of his presence, but what his occupation was, or what he planned to do in London, they had not the least idea.''
What Jack Maggs does in London is curious. He makes his way to Great Queen Street and knocks on the door of No. 27, ``rap-rap-rap,'' excited to behold this property at long last. When the maid from next door appears, ...