Lumen Autumn 2024 - Flipbook - Page 37
Books
Helping some people,
some of the time
“As a writer, you hold an interesting position because
you can be both cynical and idealistic at the same time.”
Nick then received another piece of
lasting advice. “I was told you can’t really
do anything, but you can help some people
some of the time. And that was it.”
By Poppy Nwosu
Idealism lies at the heart of Nicholas Jose’s
latest novel. His new book is a moving
political mystery 10 years in the making,
which – he points out jokingly – will take
readers just a few hours to finish.
Nick drew on these experiences for
The Idealist, focusing now on Australia’s
complicated role in East Timor’s
occupation by Indonesia.
Perhaps it’s his long and fascinatingly
diverse career that has given Nick – now an
Emeritus Professor at our University – such
a healthy perspective on his art. After all,
he’s published numerous novels, short
stories and essays over the past 40 years.
He’s also taught and mentored creative
writing students at the University of
Adelaide, studied literature at Oxford and
even served as a diplomat in China during
the 1989 Tiananmen Square tragedy.
Nick’s latest book, The Idealist, is set
during a different – but equally fraught –
period of modern history. It focuses on the
violent lead-up to the 1999 East Timorese
independence referendum.
Travelling from the idyllic familiarity of
the Adelaide Hills to an icy Washington DC,
from the dry distances of Yorke Peninsula
to humid mountains in Timor-Leste, every
setting within The Idealist is beautifully
rendered.
In the novel, an Australian defence
analyst becomes ‘unmoored’ by his
destructive relationship with his own
idealism as he asks the question, ‘Isn’t there
a natural law that calls for a neighbour to
come to your aid if your life is in danger?’
“Idealism is an ambiguous thing, or a
dangerous thing in some ways,” Nick says.
“But it feels necessary, too. I think you
have to believe it’s possible that things
can be better.”
The Idealist is a vivid meditation on these
themes, wrapped into the sharp outline of a
mystery that takes a hard look at Australian
international policy – both the positive and
insidious.
“As a writer, you hold an interesting
position because you can be both cynical
and idealistic at the same time,” he says.
“You can express your ideals through
writing, but you also know the world isn’t
really always like that, so you try to depict
that truth as well. Then, when someone far
away in another space reads it, you hope it
helps them see the world differently.”
“I think as Australians we want to think
of ourselves as nice people, or as small and
insignificant among bigger forces. There’s
truth in that, but where we are the bigger
force – and, for instance, East Timor is a
tiny little island offshore – the tables are
reversed.”
And that’s the power of a good book.
Even if it only takes a few hours to read.
It’s his time in China as a diplomat that
might have informed Nick’s latest work the
most. Interestingly though, he wasn’t
consciously aware of those threads at the
time of writing The Idealist.
“When I was offered the role of
Cultural Counsellor in Beijing, I wondered
if I really wanted to do it. I had a lot of
Chinese friends because I’d been teaching
there, and I didn’t want to be cut off from
them by working for the Australian
government.” Yet he received advice that
changed his mind.
“A friend told me I just had to do the job.
I’d learn more about Australia in that role
than I’d ever learn any other way, and that
was true.”
Being caught up in the events of
Tiananmen Square in 1989 also led Nick to
question “where I stood, what side was I on,
what could I do?”
LUMEN
Poppy Nwosu is a former Media Officer for the
University of Adelaide and published author of
multiple novels.
The Idealist, by Nick Jose, was published in
September 2023 by Giramondo Publishing
Company. Nick is Emeritus Professor of
English and Creative Writing at the
University of Adelaide. He has published seven
novels and three collections of short stories.
The main image of Nick Jose photographed by
Isaac Freeman.
