Joseph Furphy – författare

Such is Life (1903) is a novel by Joseph Furphy. Written under his pseudonym “Tom Collins,” Such is Life is a unique and challenging story that took decades to achieve a proper audience. Earning comparisons to the works of Melville and Twain, Furphy’s novel is considered a landmark of Australian literature. “The fore part of the day was altogether devoid of interest or event. Overhead, the sun blazing wastefully and thanklessly through a rarefied atmosphere; underfoot the hot, black clay, thirsting for spring rain, and bare except for inedible roley-poleys, coarse tussocks, and the woody stubble of close-eaten salt-bush; between sky and earth, a solitary wayfarer, wisely lapt in philosophic torpor.” Setting out on a trek through the outback, Tom Collins begins his seemingly endless torrent of words, a journey through language to match his journey over land. Accompanied by a dog and two horses, he meets a vibrant array of characters from all nations and walks of life; from drovers to criminals, Collins can talk with them all. Described by Furphy himself as “offensively Australian,” Such is Life is part travelogue, part philosophy, a novel ahead of its time that remains informative for our own. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Joseph Furphy’s Such is Life is a classic work of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Rigby’s Romance (1921) is a novel by Joseph Furphy. Written under his pseudonym “Tom Collins,” Rigby’s Romance is a sequel of sorts to Such is Life, a unique and challenging story that took decades to achieve a proper audience. Earning comparisons to the works of Melville and Twain, Furphy’s novel is considered a landmark of Australian literature. “Just as a bale of wool is dumped, by hydraulic pressure, to less than half its normal size, I scientifically compressed something like twenty-four hours' sleep into the interval between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Then a touch of what you call dyspepsia and I call laziness, kept me debating with myself for another swift-running hour.” Between such beguiling narration and lively conversations with the characters he meets on his travels through the Australian outback, Tom Collins presents himself as a philosophizing everyman, a prototype of such characters as Joyce’s Leopold Bloom and Beckett’s Molloy. Journeying in search of his friend Jefferson Rigby, a gentleman and adventurer like himself, Collins reflects on their history together and longs for his company. When the two meet up, they engage in a long discussion on politics and the nature of humanity, touching on topics as strange and diverse as Australia’s legendary wildlife. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Joseph Furphy’s Rigby’s Romance is a classic work of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Such is Life is Furphy's great novel first published in 1903, and signalled the end of the "colonial romance" by its realistic portrayal of Australian rural life. Joseph Furphy (1843-1912) was born in Victoria and worked on farms, in the gold diggings and carting goods in the Riverina with a bullock team before taking employment in Shepparton where he was able to study and write.At his death in 1912 in Western Australia he was still largely unknown. A small group of admirers, including retired teacher Kate Baker, devoted themselves to promoting his work and by the 1940's he was recognised as one of the most significant Australian writers prior to World War I.