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particularly dreaded). The final rebellion led byRowan, and supported by the narrator, isagainst this sense of time, this loss of temporalinnocence. The apparent success of the rebellioncertainly leaves the reader in a fantasy world, butagain, with a sense of dissatisfaction. The endingis imposed, rather than resolved, by Rowan'sChrist-like self-sacrifice, while none of the issuesare truly clarified. Expelled from the paradise,which, ironically, has been imposed by the cruelMargai, saved from slavery by the heroic Rowan,we wonder: Who will lead the children now? Thewise Narrator? The sometimes-mean Lon? TheEarth-Mother figure, Rada? The book endswhere Golding's Lord of the Flies begins: agroup of isolated children left to set up their ownpower structures.There are no answers to these hauntingquestions. Perhaps there is a sequel in thepipeline. But it is difficult to envisage aresolution to a world where bondage begetsinnocence, and where it is never made clear, orscarcely even hinted at, what may lie beyond ina world of freedom and experience. Flies of aSummer is good enough to raise expectations ofinteresting answers to such questions. Thereforeit is good enough to create disappointment whenthey do not appear.Should Flies of a Summer thus be dismissedas yet another example of "second rate"Australian writing? This would be bothirrelevant and unhelpful. Like much modemAustralian writing, Flies of a Summer displaystalent, energy and imagination, yet also leavesyou wishing that a little more had been done.Notwithstanding these criticisms, there aretwo positive points I would like to make aboutFlies of a Summer. Firstly, the book is well andsimply written, with none of the pretentiousnessthat characterises many fantasy novels. Yet it isthe unobtrusive, the child-like innocence of thewriting (befitting the narrator) that probablyultimately limits the book's perspective in termsof analysis. At the same time, such a modeexpresses the simple human values of thechildren and the primitive ambitions of theMargai. The story-line, too, is well constructedand gripping. But it is far too short to satisfy theimagination.The second point I would like to make indefence of Flies of a Summer relates to the wayit confronts some basic human values andexperiences directly without the distraction oflocal colour and circumstantial detail. It is good114to read an Australian novel that is not beingprovincially "Australian". This is one of theadvantages of using the fantasy mode. I admirethe largeness of Peter Kocan's ambition. Kocanhas taken a step toward writing on a bigger page.It is simply that more needs to happen to fill thatpage satisfactorily.Alan UrquhartWESTERLY, No.2, JUNE, 1989