Australian Writers

Ever Yours, C.H. Spence: Catherine Helen Spence’s an autobiography (1825–1910), diary (1894) and some correspondence (1894–1910) edited by Susan Magarey

February 2006, no. 278

Elizabeth Webby reviews ‘Ever Yours, C.H. Spence: Catherine Helen Spence’s an autobiography (1825–1910), diary (1894) and some correspondence (1894–1910)’ edited by Susan Magarey

As Nicholas Jose observed in the November 2005 issue of ABR, the face of South Australian novelist Catherine Spence, currently featured on our $5 note, circulates much more widely than any of her books. Like those of several other nineteenth-century Australian women writers, Spence’s novels were revived in the 1980s but are now once again out of print. So this new edition of her autobiography, extensively annotated and accompanied by letters and a diary never before published, is especially welcome.

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Henry Handel Richardson: A life by Michael Ackland

by Ann-Marie Priest •

February 2006, no. 278

Ann-Marie Priest reviews ‘Henry Handel Richardson: A Life’ by Michael Ackland

Henry Handel Richardson, author of iconic Australian novels The Getting of Wisdom (1910) and The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney (1917–29), has not fared well at the hands of her biographers. Axel Clark’s account of her early life, though kindly and well intentioned, could not seem to avoid the unfortunate conclusion that Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (1870–1946) was a rather unpleasant person. At the age of four, Clark tells us, she was ‘unusually showy and forward’, and it was all downhill from there. As a girl, she was ‘overly insistent and overbearing’; as she grew older, she became self-aggrandising and embittered.

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Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 289: Australian Writers, 1950-1975' edited by Selina Samuels

by Paul Brunton •

June-July 2004, no. 262

This is the third volume in this US reference series that is dedicated to Australian writers. It includes writers who produced their first important book between 1950 and 1975. The Dictionary, which is held by all the major reference and research libraries around the world provides a welcome opportunity to display Australian writing in an international setting.

Forty writers are represented, from Robert Adamson to Patricia Wrightson. Each entry consists of a critical essay, a comprehensive bibliography of the author’s works, a select listing of the secondary literature and a note on the location of the author’s papers. There is also a portrait of each writer. The entries are written by Australians, many of whom have previously published on their subjects.

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