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Tim Winton. The Riders. London. Picador. 1995 ((C)1994). 377 pages. L14.99. ISBN 0-330-33941-9.
The Riders is a travelogue, a Grand Tour for the common man and a Triumph of the Vulgar. Tim Winton's latest novel is based on a series of folkloric stereotypes: the "Aussie battler" (the Australian bravely facing adversity), the "Aussie touro packer" (the Australian tourist carrying a backpack), and the honest-to-God, down-to-earth "ocker" (an ocker is a vile, uncouth Antipodean, usually a male and always a bore). Along with sheepshearers and bushrangers, these iconic representations of Australian masculine virtue seem dangerously close to celebrations of the inarticulate and the brutal.
It is a common enough practice for young Australians to travel through different European countries, drifting from capital to capital, often ending up in Britain. The protagonist of The Riders, Scully, is one such traveler. Accompanied by his wife Jennifer and daughter Billie, Scully had wandered for more that a year through Greece, France, and England before deciding to settle down in rural Ireland. The novel begins with Scully renovating a...