David Malouf was born in Brisbane in 1934 (he lived through WW2).
The novel was written in 1982. He was a poet before a writer and this has had a strong impact on his style of writing. Malouf is fascinated by opposites, i.e. Australia and England.
Fly Away Peter is a story of exile, only in this case, it turns out to be catastrophic. Jim has a strong sense of having found his place in life when he becomes the warden of a bird sanctuary on the Queensland coast. The idyllic, life-affirming landscape of a Queensland swampland contrasts with the nightmarish, destructive horror of the trenches of the First World War.
The Title is a fragment of the nursery rhyme:
Two little dickybirds, sitting on a wall.
One named Peter, One named Paul.
Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul.
Come back Peter, Come back Paul.
The title is significant because it refers to major issues of the novel such as war and dreams.
The rhyme in relation to the novel and title reinforces the bird imagery with the reference to “dickybirds”.
The names Peter and Paul were stereotypically very masculine names, the men, were sent away to war “fly away” and the people left were hoping that their “Peters” and their “Pauls” would “come back”.
The Essay on A Battle Of Mythical Proportion Paiting: The Horrors Of War By: Peter Paul Ruben
Peter Paul Rubens’ oil on canvas piece “The Horrors of War” was completed in 1638 in Florence, Italy. Rubens uses allegory to convey to his audience the effects of war. Greek mythological figures struggle, grasp, and fall as they “dance across the canvas.” In the background is a distant battlefield. Figures hover overhead and objects scatter the floor. You cannot deny ...
Alternatively the “fly away” could be referring to each of the characters dreaming for the sanctuary, If so then the “come back Peter” and “come back Paul” would be suggesting to the reader that their dreams and wishes are too idealistic and that they should “come back” to reality.
“Fly away” could also be a reference to each of the major character’s flight from their old lives into the freedom of the sanctuary.
On a simpler level the “fly away” might just be an indication of how no matter where the characters travel or where they go, they will always “come back” to the sanctuary, like the birds.
