Short Stories in Prose and Verse
PREFACE
This is an attempt to publish, in Australia, a collection of stories at a time when everything Australian, in the shape of a
book, must bear the imprint of a London publishing firm before our
critics will condescend to notice it, and before the "reading public"
will think it worth its while to buy nearly so many copies as will pay
for the mere cost of printing a presentable volume.
The Australian writer, until he gets a "London hearing", is only
accepted as an imitator of some recognised English or American author;
and, so soon as he shows signs of coming to the front, he is labelled
"The Australian Southey", "The Australian Burns", or "The Australian
Bret Harte", and, lately, "The Australian Kipling". Thus, no matter how
original he may be, he is branded, at the very start, as a plagiarist,
and by his own country, which thinks, no doubt, that it is paying him a
compliment and encouraging him, while it is really doing him a cruel and
an almost irreparable injury.
But, mark! So soon as the Southern writer goes "home" and gets some
recognition in England, he is "So-and-So, the well-known Australian
author whose work has attracted so much attention in London lately"; and
we first hear of him by cable, even though he might have been writing at
his best for ten years in Australia.
The same paltry spirit tried to dispose of the greatest of modern short
story writers as "The Californian Dickens", but America wasn't built
that way--neither was Bret Harte!
To illustrate the above growl: a Sydney daily paper, reviewing the
Bulletin's Golden Shanty when the first edition came out, said of my
story, "His Father's Mate", that it stood out distinctly as an excellent
specimen of that kind of writing which Bret Harte set the world
imitating in vain, and, being "full of local colour, it was no unworthy
copy of the great master". That critic evidently hadn't studied the
"great master" any more than he did my yarn, of Australian goldfield
life.
Then he spoke of another story as also having the "Californian flavour".
For the other writers I can say that I feel sure they could point out
their scenery, and name, or, in some cases, introduce "the reader" to
their characters in the flesh. The first seventeen years of my life were
spent on the goldfields, and therefore, I didn't need to go back, in
imagination, to a time before I was born, and to a country I had never
seen, for literary material.
1114757712
This is an attempt to publish, in Australia, a collection of stories at a time when everything Australian, in the shape of a
book, must bear the imprint of a London publishing firm before our
critics will condescend to notice it, and before the "reading public"
will think it worth its while to buy nearly so many copies as will pay
for the mere cost of printing a presentable volume.
The Australian writer, until he gets a "London hearing", is only
accepted as an imitator of some recognised English or American author;
and, so soon as he shows signs of coming to the front, he is labelled
"The Australian Southey", "The Australian Burns", or "The Australian
Bret Harte", and, lately, "The Australian Kipling". Thus, no matter how
original he may be, he is branded, at the very start, as a plagiarist,
and by his own country, which thinks, no doubt, that it is paying him a
compliment and encouraging him, while it is really doing him a cruel and
an almost irreparable injury.
But, mark! So soon as the Southern writer goes "home" and gets some
recognition in England, he is "So-and-So, the well-known Australian
author whose work has attracted so much attention in London lately"; and
we first hear of him by cable, even though he might have been writing at
his best for ten years in Australia.
The same paltry spirit tried to dispose of the greatest of modern short
story writers as "The Californian Dickens", but America wasn't built
that way--neither was Bret Harte!
To illustrate the above growl: a Sydney daily paper, reviewing the
Bulletin's Golden Shanty when the first edition came out, said of my
story, "His Father's Mate", that it stood out distinctly as an excellent
specimen of that kind of writing which Bret Harte set the world
imitating in vain, and, being "full of local colour, it was no unworthy
copy of the great master". That critic evidently hadn't studied the
"great master" any more than he did my yarn, of Australian goldfield
life.
Then he spoke of another story as also having the "Californian flavour".
For the other writers I can say that I feel sure they could point out
their scenery, and name, or, in some cases, introduce "the reader" to
their characters in the flesh. The first seventeen years of my life were
spent on the goldfields, and therefore, I didn't need to go back, in
imagination, to a time before I was born, and to a country I had never
seen, for literary material.
Short Stories in Prose and Verse
PREFACE
This is an attempt to publish, in Australia, a collection of stories at a time when everything Australian, in the shape of a
book, must bear the imprint of a London publishing firm before our
critics will condescend to notice it, and before the "reading public"
will think it worth its while to buy nearly so many copies as will pay
for the mere cost of printing a presentable volume.
The Australian writer, until he gets a "London hearing", is only
accepted as an imitator of some recognised English or American author;
and, so soon as he shows signs of coming to the front, he is labelled
"The Australian Southey", "The Australian Burns", or "The Australian
Bret Harte", and, lately, "The Australian Kipling". Thus, no matter how
original he may be, he is branded, at the very start, as a plagiarist,
and by his own country, which thinks, no doubt, that it is paying him a
compliment and encouraging him, while it is really doing him a cruel and
an almost irreparable injury.
But, mark! So soon as the Southern writer goes "home" and gets some
recognition in England, he is "So-and-So, the well-known Australian
author whose work has attracted so much attention in London lately"; and
we first hear of him by cable, even though he might have been writing at
his best for ten years in Australia.
The same paltry spirit tried to dispose of the greatest of modern short
story writers as "The Californian Dickens", but America wasn't built
that way--neither was Bret Harte!
To illustrate the above growl: a Sydney daily paper, reviewing the
Bulletin's Golden Shanty when the first edition came out, said of my
story, "His Father's Mate", that it stood out distinctly as an excellent
specimen of that kind of writing which Bret Harte set the world
imitating in vain, and, being "full of local colour, it was no unworthy
copy of the great master". That critic evidently hadn't studied the
"great master" any more than he did my yarn, of Australian goldfield
life.
Then he spoke of another story as also having the "Californian flavour".
For the other writers I can say that I feel sure they could point out
their scenery, and name, or, in some cases, introduce "the reader" to
their characters in the flesh. The first seventeen years of my life were
spent on the goldfields, and therefore, I didn't need to go back, in
imagination, to a time before I was born, and to a country I had never
seen, for literary material.
This is an attempt to publish, in Australia, a collection of stories at a time when everything Australian, in the shape of a
book, must bear the imprint of a London publishing firm before our
critics will condescend to notice it, and before the "reading public"
will think it worth its while to buy nearly so many copies as will pay
for the mere cost of printing a presentable volume.
The Australian writer, until he gets a "London hearing", is only
accepted as an imitator of some recognised English or American author;
and, so soon as he shows signs of coming to the front, he is labelled
"The Australian Southey", "The Australian Burns", or "The Australian
Bret Harte", and, lately, "The Australian Kipling". Thus, no matter how
original he may be, he is branded, at the very start, as a plagiarist,
and by his own country, which thinks, no doubt, that it is paying him a
compliment and encouraging him, while it is really doing him a cruel and
an almost irreparable injury.
But, mark! So soon as the Southern writer goes "home" and gets some
recognition in England, he is "So-and-So, the well-known Australian
author whose work has attracted so much attention in London lately"; and
we first hear of him by cable, even though he might have been writing at
his best for ten years in Australia.
The same paltry spirit tried to dispose of the greatest of modern short
story writers as "The Californian Dickens", but America wasn't built
that way--neither was Bret Harte!
To illustrate the above growl: a Sydney daily paper, reviewing the
Bulletin's Golden Shanty when the first edition came out, said of my
story, "His Father's Mate", that it stood out distinctly as an excellent
specimen of that kind of writing which Bret Harte set the world
imitating in vain, and, being "full of local colour, it was no unworthy
copy of the great master". That critic evidently hadn't studied the
"great master" any more than he did my yarn, of Australian goldfield
life.
Then he spoke of another story as also having the "Californian flavour".
For the other writers I can say that I feel sure they could point out
their scenery, and name, or, in some cases, introduce "the reader" to
their characters in the flesh. The first seventeen years of my life were
spent on the goldfields, and therefore, I didn't need to go back, in
imagination, to a time before I was born, and to a country I had never
seen, for literary material.
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Short Stories in Prose and Verse
Short Stories in Prose and Verse
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940016177885 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | WDS Publishing |
| Publication date: | 03/03/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 50 KB |
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