''All that Swagger'' (1936) is a
family saga
The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...
novel by Australian writer
Miles Franklin
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While s ...
.
Story outline
The novel follows the fortunes of a pioneering family, the Delacys, in the
Murrumbidgee River area across 100 years and four generations.
Critical reception
In
''The Telegraph'' (Brisbane) a reviewer noted: "The story is enriched with a mass of incident, much of it amusing, and much of it pregnant with drama. It would have gained in style and in coherence if the blue pencil had been applied here and there, but there is enough that is wholly admirable to justify its inclusion among the Australian novels that matter."
''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' was very impressed with the book: "She is to be congratulated upon both the breadth and height of her achievement, she has produced a work of integrity, peopled with characters which are not giants or satyrs, but endearing humans, lit with the never-guttering flame of passionate idealism and an exultant devotion to the soil and soul of Australia."
See also
*
1936 in Australian literature
Notes
The novel was originally serialised in the pages of ''
The Bulletin'' magazine between 23 September and 4 November 1936.
[Austlit - ''All that Swagger'' by Miles Franklin]
/ref>
''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' notes that the novel's protagonist, "Irish immigrant Danny Delacy, is modelled upon Miles Franklin's paternal grandfather, Joseph Franklin, and the exploits and adventures of four generations of Delacys on the land around the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee River follow roughly the fortunes of the Franklin family from 1833 to 1933."[''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' 2nd edition, p25]
References
Novels by Miles Franklin
1936 Australian novels
Australian historical novels
Family saga novels
Novels set in New South Wales
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