Charmian Clift (30 August 19238 July 1969) was an Australian writer and essayist. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston.

Biography

Clift was born in

Kiama, New South Wales Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restauran ...

in 1923. She married George Johnston in 1947. They had three children, the eldest of whom was the poet Martin Johnston. After Clift and Johnston's collaboration ''High Valley'' (1949) won them recognition as writers, they left Australia with their young family, working in London before relocating to the

Greek island Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

Kalymnos Kalymnos ( el, Κάλυμνος) is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese island chain, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of ) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than ): ...

and later Hydra to try living by the pen. She met the songwriter

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

whilst there in 1960. Johnston returned to Australia to receive the accolades of his

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879– ...

-winner ''

My Brother Jack ''My Brother Jack'' is a classic 1964 Australian novel by writer George Johnston. It is part of a trilogy centering on the character of David Meredith. The other books in the trilogy are '' Clean Straw for Nothing'' and '' A Cartload of Clay'' ...

''. Clift moved back to Sydney with their children in 1964, after which her memoirs ''Mermaid Singing'' and ''Peel Me a Lotus'' and her novel ''Honour's Mimic'' became successes. She was also well known for the 240 essays she wrote between 1964 and 1969 for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' and '' The Herald'' in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

. They were collected in the books ''Images in Aspic'' and ''The World of Charmian Clift''. In the meantime, Clift and Johnston's marriage was disintegrating under the pressures of their drinking habits and the problems their children had settling into life in Sydney. On 8 July 1969, the eve of the publication of Johnston's novel '' Clean Straw for Nothing'', Clift committed suicide by taking an overdose of

barbiturate Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as ...

s in

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local gov ...

, a Sydney suburb, while considerably affected by alcohol. Academics Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell suggest in their 2018 book ''Half the Perfect World'' that it was the impending publication of Johnston's novel, which Clift knew would lay bare her infidelities whilst on the island of Hydra, which prompted her to suicide. In her posthumously published article ''My Husband George'' in that month's edition of '' POL'' magazine, she wrote: Her ashes were later scattered in the rose garden of the Northern Suburbs Crematorium in Sydney.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''High Valley'' (with George Johnston), 1949 * ''The Big Chariot'' (with Johnston), 1953 * '' The Sponge Divers'' (with Johnston), 1955 * ''Walk to the Paradise Gardens'', 1960 * ''Honour's Mimic'', 1964

Short stories and collections

* ''Strong Man from Piraeus and Other Stories'', (with Johnston) 1983

Autobiography

* ''Mermaid Singing'', Indianapolis, 1956 * ''Peel Me a Lotus'', London, 1959

Non-fiction

* ''Images in Aspic'', Selected Essays, Sydney, 1965 * ''The World of Charmian Clift'', Sydney, 1970 * ''Trouble in Lotus Land'', Sydney, 1990 * ''Being Alone with Oneself'', Sydney, 1991 * ''Charmian Clift: Selected Essays'', 2001

References

External links

Charmian Clift Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clift, Charmian 1923 births 1969 suicides 1969 deaths Australian women novelists Australian essayists Drug-related suicides in Australia Suicides in New South Wales 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers Australian women essayists 20th-century essayists Greek people of Australian descent Naturalized citizens of Greece 20th-century Australian journalists Barbiturates-related deaths The Argus (Melbourne) people