Customer Reviews

Clean Straw for Nothing & A Cartload of Clay (Angus & Robertson Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

George Johnston published a number of novels, many of them "pulpy" in nature to earn a living, before he turned the subject of his writing to something closer to home: his own life. And in doing so, he not only gained incredible fame and adoration, but also reserved himself a place in Australia's Literature canon. The strength of George's writing lies partly in the attention to detail and his beautiful evocation of parts local and foreign (local: Melbourne, foreign: Hydra, Greece) but it is marked also by the honestly which pervades all his work. "Clean Straw for Nothing", I believe, is his masterpiece - an intensely personal exploration of ex-patriation, poverty, the nature of success, illness and sexual jealousy. All these conflicting emotions are heartbreakingly rendered such as few Australian writers have ever dared to do, let alone so well. His alter-ego, David Meredith, speaks volumes in the way he conducts his life, about the journey of life and career, and the extent we can push ourselves in one direction which may not necessarily be the best for us. David, like Johnston himself, is driven, passionate and yearning, but also flawed in his insecurity, stubborness and self-centredness. Nevertheless, Meredith is indelible and moving because of this.
I read "Clean Straw for Nothing" when I was twenty-one, and credit it with changing so much about life and my attitude towards it. This is a neglected classic, deserving to be better recognised. In my eyes, Johnston was leagues ahead of his contemporaries.

This author is really worth reading for his exceptionally communicative passages in not only these two stories, but also My Brother Jack - the first of the Trilogy.