Matthew Lamb
Autor von Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths
Werke von Matthew Lamb
Island: Volume 144 1 Exemplar
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Strange Paths covers the period up to 1974 when Frank, by then in his forties, published The Electrical Experience. It occurs to me that I should make the case for why, when there is already a lively biography about Frank Moorhouse, a reader might want to read another.
I am not thinking of academics. It seems to me that anyone whose field of research is Australian literature would be interested in a bio of one of our most significant and influential authors. Rather, I am thinking of readers like myself, interested in Australian literature in a general way, and of writers who can benefit from an analysis of another writer's career.
While the biographical details and timeline of Moorhouse's life is interesting in itself, the real value of this book is that it shows the development of a writer at a significant time in our literary history. Moorhouse began writing his stories in adolescence, and developed his craft over time. One question that arises is whether or not today's writers can access similar opportunities for publishing short stories, articles and essays; for mentoring and guidance; for experimenting with new fictional forms; and for intellectual companionship outside a university milieu.
The other aspect of this book that is really interesting is the analysis of Australian literature as it transitioned through liberalisation in the 1970s. Although it's seen through the prism of Frank's role in the changes to censorship and copyright issues, the book is a valuable cultural history in general.
Frank Moorhouse (1938-2022) was an interesting person anyway but reading about his young life is especially fascinating. As it says in the Hazel Rowley Fellowship's press release, this book is more than the story of his life, but also of the times he lived in. It was a time when a bookish adolescent could set himself on the path to become an author with an application for a journalism cadetship with only his Leaving Certificate (Year 11). It was a time when jobs in journalism were plentiful. A time when a young journalist could cut his teeth at a regional newspaper, and — with a couple of mates — even set up a rival local newspaper of his own.
And also a time when the media had not been degraded to its present parlous state of affairs. I cannot imagine an idealistic young writer wanting to work for a newspaper today, though that of course is not the only work available to journalists.
Frank came from an upwardly mobile middle-class family in Nowra NSW, where his parents were pillars of the community with OAMs to prove it, and — like his brothers — Frank was expected to follow his father into the family business. Frank Moorhouse Snr was an inventor of farm machinery for the dairy industry, not an industry to which bookish young Frank was suited. As you can see from this Sensational Snippet even at sixteen he was determined to follow his own path, and left Nowra to take up work at the Daily Telegraph. In a nice irony, the journalist at The Shoalhaven and Nowra News in December 1955 tweaked the truth to elevate Frank's forthcoming position from copy boy to cadet journalist, but it didn't take long for Frank to make it true. In January he sat the Telegraph's internal exam for promotion to cadet, and with only one month's experience on the job, he was successful. In an early indication of his sense of solidarity with other writers, he joined the Australian Journalists' Association.
His workload was extraordinary, and most of it was self-imposed by his ambitions. All through January he was studying for his Matriculation exams in February because he still wanted to go to university. Once enrolled at Sydney he had journalism lectures every week morning, working the night shift at the Telegraph. At The Telegraph he was assigned to journalist Peter Finn on the 'beach beat' — from which he scored his first story about a new species of jellyfish. (It was only on page 9, but it was also taken up by the Melbourne Argus which was a real thrill for him.) Plus he was also writing his first novel, while maintaining a copious correspondence with his friends Wendy and Paul back in Nowra. He spent his days off reading, writing and drinking.
It is fascinating to read Lamb's synopsis of this first novel. Frank had been writing since he was 12, and though he concluded his novel with the judgement that it was 'immature in both style and treatment' he had been reflecting on the problems of adolescence in an unusually mature way. With access to Frank's correspondence to his girlfriend Wendy, Lamb also analyses Frank's concerns about hedonism:
I kept having to remember that Lamb is writing about someone still in his late teens...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/05/30/frank-moorhouse-strange-paths-2023-by-matthe...… (mehr)