Myself When Young / Henry Handel Richardson ; introduced by Brenda Niall
- Bib ID:
- 8062635
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Richardson, Henry Handel, 1870-1946, author
- Online Access:
- National edeposit: Onsite at National Library of Australia
- Related Online Resources:
- Thumbnail
- Edition:
- New edition.
- Access Conditions:
- National edeposit: Available onsite at national, state and territory libraries
- Description:
-
- Melbourne, Victoria : The Text Publishing Company, 2019
- ©2019
- 1 online resource (192 pages)
- ISBN:
- 9781925774719
- Series:
- Text Classics.
- Summary:
-
It has never been my way to say much about my private life. Rightly or wrongly, I believed this only concerned myself. And I trusted to my husband to supply, on my death, any further information that might be asked for. Now that he is gone, however, there is no one to take his place, and so I propose to jot down a few facts about myself, and memories of my childhood, which may possibly be of interest to some who have read my books. So begins Myself When Young (first published posthumously, in 1948) Henry Handel Richardson's frank and engaging account of her childhood living in the post offices of various rural towns, her adolescence at boarding school in Melbourne that would form the basis of her much loved novel The Getting of Wisdom, her time in Leipzig studying music and her early years of marriage. With insights into the inspiration for some of her most famous characters, and comments on the response to her depiction of those characters and events following the publication of her early novels, Myself When Young is not only a marvellous account of a life, but a fascinating companion to the fictional works of one of our greatest novelists. Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson was born into an affluent Melbourne family in 1870. Her father Walter was a doctor of medicine. When Richardson was nine he died of syphilis after being admitted to Melbourne's Kew mental asylum. His illness and suffering had a huge impact on his family. After his death, Richardson's mother took her children to Maldon where she worked as the postmistress. Richardson was sent to board at the Presbyterian Ladies College in 1883 - an experience that provided material for her novel The Getting of Wisdom. At school she developed into a talented pianist and tennis player. In 1888, she travelled to Europe with her mother and studied at the Leipzig Conservatorium where she met John George Robertson, a Scottish expert in German literature. The pair married and settled in London. She published her first novel, Maurice Guest, in 1908, taking the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson (which she used for all of her books). Richardson made her only journey back to Australia in 1912 to complete her research for the trilogy that would become The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. Her final novel The Young Cosima appeared in 1939. Henry Handel Richardson died in Sussex in 1946. 'Unforgettable in its self-awareness, its wry comedy and its candid recall.' Brenda Niall.
- Full contents:
-
- Introduction: No Bouquets, No Touching Up / by Brendan Niall
- Myself When Young.
- Notes:
-
- First published by William Heinemann 1948.
- Includes bibliographical references.
- General.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2019
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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