My Brilliant Career [Hardcover]

Miles Franklin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2007

"A few months before I left Australia I got a letter from the bush signed 'Miles Franklin,' saying that the writer had written a novel, but knew nothing of editors and publishers, and asking me to read and advise. Something about the letter, which was written in a strong original hand, attracted me, so I sent for the MS., and one dull afternoon I started to read it. I hadn't read three pages when I saw what you will no doubt see at once--that the story had been written by a girl. And as I went on I saw that the work was Australian--born of the bush. I don't know about the girlishly emotional parts of the book--I leave that to girl readers to judge; but the descriptions of bush life and scenery came startlingly, painfully real to me, and I know that, as far as they are concerned, the book is true to Australia--the truest I ever read. I wrote to Miles Franklin, and she confessed that she was a girl. I saw her before leaving Sydney. She is just a little bush girl, barely twenty-one yet, and has scarcely ever been out of the bush in her life. She has lived her book, and I feel proud of it for the sake of the country I came from, where people toil and bake and suffer and are kind; where every second sun-burnt bushman is a sympathetic humorist, with the sadness of the bush deep in his eyes and a brave grin for the worst of times, and where every third bushman is a poet, with a big heart that keeps his pockets empty." --Henry Lawson, 1901

Editorial Reviews

Review

Miles Franklin (born "Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin"; 1879 - 1954) was an Australian writer and feminist, who is best known for her autobiographical novel, My Brilliant Career, published in 1901. While she wrote throughout her life, her other major literary success, All That Swagger, was not published until 1936.

She was committed to the development of a uniquely Australian form of literature, and she actively pursued this goal by supporting writers, literary journals, and writers' organisations. She has had a long-lasting impact on Australian literary life through her endowment of a major literary award known as the Miles Franklin Award.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

From the Back Cover

Written by a teenager living in the Australian bush in the 1890s and originally published in 1901, Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career is a candid representation of the aspirations and frustrations of a young woman constrained by middle-class social arrangements, especially the pressure to marry. My Brilliant Career has continued to delight readers and to cause them to locate their personal realities in the struggle of Franklin's heroine, Sybylla Melvyn, to recognize and to pursue what she most wants and needs in her life. In addition to the rich selection of appendices, this edition includes maps of early twentieth-century Australia and a critical introduction that outlines political and economic developments relevant to the novel, traces the literary landscape upon which My Brilliant Career first appeared, and describes the reception and interpretation given the novel in the century after its initial publication (including the celebrated 1979 film adaptation). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (February 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557429375
• ISBN-13: 978-1557429377
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic story of pioneer life and young womanhood, February 22, 2001

By 

Leigh Munro - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brilliant Career (Paperback)

This book is a bit like a grown-up Little House in the Prairie but set in 19th century outback Australia rather than the Wild West of the US.

This is a story of a young, spirited woman who rebels against convention and the desire of her relatives that she marry the wealthy, and (it has to be said) highly desirable, local squatter (swoon! swoon!). Unlike Laura Ingalls, Sybilla chooses the road less travelled and refuses to marry. She follows her dreams instead.

What makes this book so remarkable is that it was written 100 years ago yet the voice of the narrator is so fresh. The book is funny and inspiring. I first read it when I was a teenager and my love for it has never diminished. If you cannot read the novel, try to see the film with Judy Davis and Sam Neill which brings the book wonderfully to life. The movie is as much of an Australian classic as the book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars astonishing book, July 24, 2000

By 

Ruth (Melbourne) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brilliant Career (Paperback)

I'm not exactly sure, but I think that MF wrote this book when she was still fairly young (16 or 17), and it sends shivers down my spine to think of a young girl with such energy and pride so long ago. This is a story about a girl in Australia end of the 19th century, and what happens to her when she visits other families and places and the decisions she makes. Some of the decisions she makes seem to be fairly self-destructive, and it's interesting to think about why she made them - too young to know better, too scared, not able to compromise. The heroine is a very strong character, flawed but understandable. I really, really like this book (incidentally, my ex-boyfriend found it almost unreadable). I think of it as relating to feminism; but that's just my bias. It's actually just a good yarn.

Hmm. Australian women have their own history. Is this interesting to anyone other than myself?

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Australian Gem, January 7, 2000

By 

"tarrants" (Edithvale, Vic Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brilliant Career (Paperback)

No reviews yet, I can't believe it. Buy this book for it's great introduction to Autralian life in 1800s as seen by a young woman trying to achieve what she wants in life.

Young Sybilla finds herself stuck in the arid Australian Outback, talking to the pigs for intelligent conversation, in the absence of her father. From these lowly beginnings, her ambition for her 'Brilliant Career' takes her along a melodramatic path of humour and tragedy.

For all the young women of today who don't think feminism is relevant, read this and see how much you take for granted.

Also read 'My Brillian Career Goes Bung', for the real life story of the author, which is every bit as strange and fascinating as the fictional character in this book.