Joseph Furphy
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Joseph Furphy (born September 26, 1843 in the Melbourne suburb of Yering, † September 13, 1912 ) was an Australian writer. He is considered the "father of the Australian novel ". Furphy wrote mostly under the pseudonym Tom Collins .
Life
His father, a farmer, had emigrated to Australia from Tanderagee in Ireland in 1840 . Joseph Furphy's popularity may have influenced the use of the Australian slang word furphy (great story). However, scholars believe it is more likely that the word derives from the J. Furphy & Sons company , owned by Joseph's brother John, which manufactured carts in large quantities.
In 1905, Furphy moved to Western Australia where his sons lived. He built a house in Swanbourne, a suburb of Perth , which is now the headquarters of the Western Australian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers .
Artistic creation
His best-known work is Such is Life , a fictional account of the life of rural folk, including ox drivers, squatters and wandering travelers, in southern New South Wales and Victoria during the 1880s. The book contains a series of loosely connected stories of the different people the narrator meets on his journey through the country. At times, the prose is difficult to understand because Furphy uses Australian slang and tries to convey the accents of the Scottish and Chinese personalities. Nevertheless, this novel offers an insight into the character of the rural population in the late 19th century. The title Such is Life was supposedly derived from Ned Kelly's last words.
Web links
- Furphy, Joseph (1843-1912) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Works in Project Gutenberg (English)
- rootsweb.com "Collins Family History" (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Furphy, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tom Collins |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1843 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yering, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 13, 1912 |
| Place of death | Swanbourne, Australia |