My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin (book recommendations TXT) ๐
Description
My Brilliant Career is a classic Australian work published in 1901 by Stella Miles Franklin, with an introduction by Henry Lawson. A thinly-veiled autobiographical novel, it paints a vivid and sometimes grim picture of rural Australian life in the late 19th Century.
Sybylla Melvyn is the daughter of a man who falls into grinding poverty through inadvised speculation before becoming a hopeless drunk unable to make a living from a small dairy farm. Sybylla longs for the intellectual things in life such as books and music. She wants to become a writer and rebels against the constraints of her life. For a short period she is allowed to stay with her better-off relatives, and there she attracts the attentions of a handsome and rich neighbour, Harold Beecham. The course of true love, however, does not run smoothly for this very independent young woman.
The author, like many other women writers of the time, adopted a version of her name which suggested that she was male in order to get published. Today, the Miles Franklin Award is Australiaโs premier literary award, with a companion award, the Stella, open only to women authors.
My Brilliant Career was made into a well-regarded movie in 1979. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, it features Judy Davis as Sybylla and Sam Neil as Harry Beecham.
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- Author: Miles Franklin
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My Dear Child,
I have been a long time answering your letter on account of waiting to consult your mother. I was willing to take you back, but your mother is not agreeable, so I cannot interfere between you. I enclose your motherโs letter, so you can see how I stand in the matter. Try and do good where you are. We cannot get what we would like in this world, and must bow to Godโs will. He will always, etc.
Motherโs Letter to Grannie
My Dear Mother,
I am truly grieved that Sybylla should have written and worried you. Take no notice of her; it is only while she is unused to the place. She will soon settle down. She has always been a trial to me, and it is no use of taking notice of her complaints, which no doubt are greatly exaggerated, as she was never contented at home. I donโt know where her rebellious spirit will eventually lead her. I hope MโSwatโs will tame her; it will do her good. It is absolutely necessary that she should remain there, so do not say anything to give her other ideas etc.
Motherโs Letter to Me
My Dear Sybylla,
I wish you would not write and worry your poor old grandmother, who has been so good to you. You must try and put up with things; you cannot expect to find it like holidaying at Caddagat. Be careful not to give offence to anyone, as it would be awkward for us. What is wrong with the place? Have you too much work to do? Do you not get sufficient to eat? Are they unkind to you, or what? Why donโt you have sense and not talk of getting another place, as it is utterly impossible; and unless you remain there, how are we to pay the interest on that money? Iโve always been a good mother to you, and the least you might do in return is this, when you know how we are situated. Ask God etc.
Full of contempt and hatred for my mother, I tore her letters into tiny pieces and hurled them out the window. Oh, the hard want of sympathy they voiced! She had forced me to this place: it would have been different had I wanted to come of my own accord, and then sung out for a removal immediately; but no, against my earnest pleadings she had forced me here, and now would not heed my cry. And to whom in all the world can we turn when our mother spurns our prayer?
There never was any sympathy between my mother and myself. We are too unlike. She is intensely matter-of-fact and practical, possessed of no ambitions or aspirations not capable of being turned into cash value. She is very ladylike, and though containing no spice of either poet or musician, can take a part in conversation on such subjects, and play the piano correctly, because in her young days she was thus cultivated; but had she been born a peasant, she would have been a peasant, with no longings unattainable in that sphere. She no more understood me than I understand the works of a watch. She looked upon me as a discontented, rebellious, bad child, possessed of evil spirits, which wanted trouncing out of me; and she would have felt that she was sinning had she humoured me in any way, so after cooling I did not blame her for her letters. She was doing her duty according to her lights. Again, it was this way, grannie did not come to my rescue on this occasion on account of her attitude towards my father. The Bossiers were not at enmity with him, but they were so disgusted with his insobriety that they never visited โPossum Gully, and did not assist us as much as they would have done had my fatherโs failure been attributable to some cause more deserving of sympathy.
After reading my letters I wept till every atom of my body writhed with agonized emotion. I was aroused by Mrs. MโSwat hammering at my door and inquiring:
โWhat ails ye, child? Did ye git bad noos from home?โ
I recovered myself as by a miracle, and replied, no; that I was merely a little homesick, and would be out presently.
I wrote again to my mother, but as I could not truthfully say I was hungry or ill-treated, for, according to their ability, the MโSwats were very kind to me, she took no notice of my plaint, but told me that instead of complaining of monotony, it would suit me better if I cleared up the house a little.
Acting upon this advice, I asked Mr. MโSwat to put a paling fence round the house, as it was useless trying to keep the house respectable while the fowls and pigs ran in every time the door was opened.โ โ
He was inclined to look with favour upon this proposition, but his wife sat upon it determinedlyโ โsaid the fowls would lose the scraps. โWould it not be possible to throw them over the fence to the fowls?โ I asked; but this would cause too much waste, she considered.
Next I suggested that the piano should be tuned, but they were united in their disapproval of such a fearful extravagance. โThe peeany makes a good nise. What ails it?โ
Then I suggested that the children should be kept tidier, for which I was insulted by their father. I wanted them to be dressed up like swells, and if he did that he would soon be a pauper like my father. This I found was the sentiment of the whole family regarding me. I was only the daughter of old hard-up Melvyn, consequently I had little weight with the children, which made
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