Stonedogs
Encyclopedia
Stonedogs is the first novel by New Zealand
writer Craig Marriner
. It was published in 2001 and has won a Montana New Zealand Book Award
. The book has been described as "a kind of A Clockwork Orange
-meets-Once Were Warriors
as imagined by Irvine Welsh
". In 2003, the film rights were sold to Australia
n production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production.
Stonedogs is structurally unusual; Some text takes the form of a play with stage directions, and there are sudden shifts from narrator's voice to outside observer. Pages of inner narrative are italicised. For Marriner "It was important to do something that would be seen as innovative in terms of structure and format, to come up with mediums which are slightly alternative to what's been done. I saw devices which hadn't been used and I couldn't see why they hadn't." Stonedogs received critical acclaim, winning the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2002 in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
, social decay, drug use and New Zealand gang culture, as well as political and environmental issues. Speaking of the novel Marriner told an interviewer "I've been pretty disillusioned with mainstream society for a while, I just don't see a future in it. And I've been moving in working-class circles and watching the quiet desperation everyone lives their lives through. So the novel comes from there, and questions where we're going environmentally and politically." There are strong left-wing political themes expressed; Marriner has cited leftists such as Noam Chomsky
, Robert Fisk
and Leon Trotsky
as influences.
The story revolves around the protaganoist, Gator, an unemployed young adult with anti-capitalist and neo-Nietzschean philosophies, and his friends in Rotorua
. All are involved in recreational drug use
. After they try to purchase LSD from members of the fictional gang "The Rabble" Gator causes an incident and makes an enemy in the leader of the gang chapter. After a tip off from his friend Steve, whose cousin is a gang prospect, Gator and the other plan to steal the harvest of the gang's marijuana crop. They drive their Holden
to Northland and after unplanned events take place attempt to sell their haul to a gang of Auckland
skinhead
s, later running into trouble with a corrupt police officer.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
writer Craig Marriner
Craig Marriner
Craig Marriner is a novelist from Rotorua, New Zealand. His 2001 novel Stonedogs won a Montana New Zealand Book Award and in 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production. His second novel Southern Style was...
. It was published in 2001 and has won a Montana New Zealand Book Award
Montana New Zealand Book Awards
The New Zealand Post Book Awards are a series of literary awards to works of New Zealand citizens. They were created in 1996, as a merge of the two previously most relevant awards in New Zealand: the Montana Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards...
. The book has been described as "a kind of A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
-meets-Once Were Warriors
Once Were Warriors
Once Were Warriors is New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, published in 1990. It tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence. It was the basis of a 1994 film, directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Rena Owen and Temuera...
as imagined by Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
". In 2003, the film rights were sold to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production.
Stonedogs is structurally unusual; Some text takes the form of a play with stage directions, and there are sudden shifts from narrator's voice to outside observer. Pages of inner narrative are italicised. For Marriner "It was important to do something that would be seen as innovative in terms of structure and format, to come up with mediums which are slightly alternative to what's been done. I saw devices which hadn't been used and I couldn't see why they hadn't." Stonedogs received critical acclaim, winning the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2002 in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
Themes and plot
The novel deals with issues such as alienationSocial alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, social decay, drug use and New Zealand gang culture, as well as political and environmental issues. Speaking of the novel Marriner told an interviewer "I've been pretty disillusioned with mainstream society for a while, I just don't see a future in it. And I've been moving in working-class circles and watching the quiet desperation everyone lives their lives through. So the novel comes from there, and questions where we're going environmentally and politically." There are strong left-wing political themes expressed; Marriner has cited leftists such as Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
and Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
as influences.
The story revolves around the protaganoist, Gator, an unemployed young adult with anti-capitalist and neo-Nietzschean philosophies, and his friends in Rotorua
Rotorua
Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...
. All are involved in recreational drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
. After they try to purchase LSD from members of the fictional gang "The Rabble" Gator causes an incident and makes an enemy in the leader of the gang chapter. After a tip off from his friend Steve, whose cousin is a gang prospect, Gator and the other plan to steal the harvest of the gang's marijuana crop. They drive their Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
to Northland and after unplanned events take place attempt to sell their haul to a gang of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
s, later running into trouble with a corrupt police officer.