A Many Coated Man (40 page)
Authors: Owen Marshall
Owen Marshall – 1992
‘Aldous Slaven hangs for an instant on the power line of his home…’. So begins Owen Marshall’s first novel,
A
Many
Coated
Man,
which he began while the Burns Fellow for 1992. Set in 21
st
century New Zealand, the novel – a departure from his usual short story writing – was published in 1995 and shortlisted for the Montana Book Award for Fiction. Marshall’s strong sense of place and environment is evoked in his poem displayed in Diedre Copeland’s painting, done recently for the Otago Hospice charity auction, 2008.
‘South Island Prayer,’ a copy of a painting by Deidre Copeland. 2008. Private Collection; Owen Marshall,
A
Many
Coated
M
an.
Dunedin: Longacre Press, 1995. Private Collection.
OWEN MARSHALL
was born in Te Kuiti, New Zealand in 1941. His first collection of short stories,
Supper
Waltz
Wilson
, was quietly published in 1979. Since then he has written seven collections including,
The
Divided
World,
Tomorrow
We
Save
the
Orphans,
and
The
Ace
of
Diamonds
Gang.
He is now considered to be the finest short story writer in New Zealand.
Marshall has received many awards, prizes, and fellowships. He held the University of Canterbury Literary Fellowship in 1981, the 1988 New Zealand Literary Fund’s Scholarship in Letters, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Award for Achievement in 1990. He held the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago for 1992.
Owen Marshall lives in Timaru with his family.
Supper
Waltz
Wilson
The
Master
of
Big
Jingles
The
Day
Hemingway
Died
The
Lynx
Hunter
The
Divided
World
Tomorrow
We
Save
The
Orphans
The
Ace
of
Diamonds
Gang
LONGACRE PRESS
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful for the tenure of the Robert Burns Literary Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1992, during which the draft of this novel was written.
Published with the assistance of the Literature Programme of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.
This book is copyright. All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Owen Marshall
ISBN 978 1 7755319 1 3
First published 1995 by Longacre Press Ltd.,
P.O. Box 5340, Dunedin, New Zealand
Typeset by Egan Reid Ltd., Auckland
Printed by Tablet Printing Co.
Book and cover design Jenny Cooper
Front cover painting:
Untitled
(
Watcher
on
the
Shore
), 1982–83, by Tony Fomison. Reproduced courtesy of the owner and the Fomison Family Trust.