Plevna

Geoff Page

He was a Melbourne surgeon. He worked for the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. He was the oldest man at Gallipoli, and took illegal photographs during a nine-hour truce. He repaired Ned Kelly after the Siege of Glenrowan. He cut quite a figure in “Marvellous Melbourne” of the 1880s and 90s. 

In this verse-portrait of Sir Charles Snodgrass ‘Plevna’ Ryan (1853-1926), Geoff Page weaves the writing of Ryan together with his own voice as biographer, setting down the life of a man forgotten by history at the same time as reflecting on his role as intermediary. 

Page’s sensitive investigation into the lost life of Charles Ryan probes broader topics of mortality, posterity and collective memory. Written in second person and in verse, Page reflects both on the power and the unreliability of storied lives.

Praise for Plevna:

Plevna is another triumph in a perpetually self-renewing career.

PETER PIERCE, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

 

Book details

PUBLICATION DATE: April 2016
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 120 pp
SIZE: C-format, 234 x 153mm
ISBN: 9781742588209
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Geoff Page,