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Thelma Honora Forshaw or Thelma Korting (1 August 1923 – 8 October 1995) was an Australian short story writer and journalist. In 1967 she published a largely autobiographical collection of short stories, ''An Affair of Clowns'', in 1967. As a journalist she worked as a freelancer and book reviewer for ''
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 ...
'', ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'', '' The Bulletin'' (since defunct), ''
Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...
'', ''Nation'', and ''
Quadrant Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...
''.


Biography

Thelma Honora Forshaw was born on 1 August 1923 at
Glebe Point Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Ri ...
– a suburb of Sydney. Her father, Leslie Alfred Forshaw (1901–1935), was a labourer and part-time boxer, her mother was Mary Winifred Forshaw (née Burke, 1889–1949), and her two younger brothers Walter and Leslie junior.. From August 1935 after her father's death, the family lived with relatives in Annandale. Forshaw was educated at St Michael's Catholic Primary School in
Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the List of highest points in London, highest point ...
and St Fiacre's Primary School in Leichardt. At the age of 14 years she wrote a poem, "Idyll of a Summer Noon", which was published in ''
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 ...
'' in February 1938. Forshaw undertook tertiary studies at
Sydney Teachers' College The Sydney Teachers College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the new Sydney College of ...
. During World War II, Forshaw enlisted on 15 April 1942 in the
WAAAF The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve, as well as by the Chief of the Air Staff, who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service ov ...
and was honourably discharged as an Aircraftwoman on 1 March 1943.Adelaide (1988) p. 66. She worked as a secretary and an advertising writer before marrying George Korting, an
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...
refugee, in 1948. In January 1951, using her married name, Thelma Korting, she wrote "This Veil Wore Me!" in '' The Argus.'' Subsequently, she worked as a freelancer and book reviewer for ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'', '' The Bulletin'', ''
Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...
'', ''Nation'', ''
Quadrant Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...
'' and other publications. Her short stories appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. In 1967, a collection of them, ''An Affair of Clowns'', was published by
Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...
. Stephen Torre, in ''The Cambridge History of Australian Literature'' (2009), described the book's first section, "Some Customs of My Clan" as "stories about a working-class Irish Catholic family narrated by a daughter, an aspiring writer. The manners of the Sydney 'clan' include hard drinking, gambling, ferocious gossiping and scandal-mongering, fighting and loving." These stories were notable for their realistic characters set within gritty, penetrating and humorous depictions of Australian city life in the first half of the 20th century, with a focus on outsiders, working-class lifestyles and the migrant experience. In January 1972 Forshaw wrote a review of
Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...
's book, ''
The Female Eunuch ''The Female Eunuch'' is a 1970 book by Germaine Greer that became an international bestseller and an important text in the feminist movement. Greer's thesis is that the "traditional" suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexual ...
'' (1970) for ''The Age'' which "has stirred up a considerable controversy". According to
Keith Dunstan John Keith Dunstan (3 February 1925 – 11 September 2013), known as Keith Dunstan, was an Australian journalist and author. He was a prolific writer and the author of more than 35 books. Early life Dunstan was born in East Malvern, Victoria ...
in ''The Best Australian Profiles'' (2004), this review was " e most famous.... orshawdescribed 'The Female Eunuch''as 'the orchestrated over-the-back-fence grizzle... based on the curious fancy... we were all men, and then some fiend castrated half of us.'" Forshaw compared herself to Greer: "I'm not a middle-class lady defending her domain. My parents were working class.... I'm a housewife because I want to, I write because I want to, I love my husband who is a male, chauvinist pig and I love my two children." Thelma Forshaw died on 8 October 1995 of a stroke in her sleep, aged 72, and was survived by her husband George and their children Helene and Grea.in Thorpe, et al. (1995).


Bibliography

;Short story collection * ;Selected anthologised short stories Thelma Forshaw's short stories have appeared in numerous publications and have been widely anthologised. *"Love-Life of a Boozer", ''Modern Australian Humour'', Bill Wannan (ed), Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, 1962 *"Better than Australia, No?", ''Two Ways Meet: Stories of Migrants in Australia'', Louise Elizabeth Rorabacher (ed), FW Cheshire, 1963 *"The Widow", "The One That Got Away", ''Australian Pavements: An Urban Anthology'', Bill Wannan (ed), Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, 1964 *"Love-Life of a Boozer", ''An Overland Muster: Selections from Overland, 1954–1964'', Stephen Murray-Smith (ed), Jacaranda Press, 1965 * *"The Widow", ''Australian Writing Today'', Charles Higham (ed), Penguin Books, 1968 *"Love-Life of a Boozer", ''The Pick of Modern Australian Humour: A sparkling collection from the work of Australia's foremost humorists'', Bill Wannan (ed), Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, 1968 *"The Mateship Syndrome", ''Modern Australian Short Stories'', Mary Lord (ed), Edward Arnold, 1971 * *"The Wowser", ''Best Australian Short Stories'', Douglas Stewart and Beatrice Davis (ed), Lloyd O'Neil, 1973 *"The Ace (Mateship Syndrome) ", ''Stories from Down Under'', AG Ayre (ed), Longman, 1976 *"The Demo", ''The Penguin Book of Australian Short Stories'', Harry Heseltine (ed), Penguin Books, 1976 *"The Lampoonist", ''The White Chrysanthemum: Changing Images of Australian Motherhood'', Nancy Keesing (ed), Angus & Robertson, 1977 *"On Our Safari", ''Australian Short Stories'', Kerryn Goldsworthy (ed), JM Dent Pty Ltd, 1983 *"A tuntetes (The Demo) ", ''Vilagirodalmi Folyoirat (World Literary Magazine) 1985/8'', Kardos Laszlo (ed), World, 1985 *"The Demo", ''Impressions of Australia'', Eva Laegdsgaard, Inger Marie Dahl (ed), Systime, 1986 * *"Better than Australia, No?", ''Living Here: Short Stories from Australasia 1938–1988'', Edmund Campion (ed), Allen & Unwin, 1988 *"The Demo", ''Ourselves Among Others: Cross Cultural Readings for Writers'', Carl J Verberg (ed), Bedford Books, 1988 *"The Procurer", ''Feeling Restless: Australian Women's Short Stories 1940–1969'', Connie Burns and Marygai McNamara (ed), Imprint, 1989 *"The Grand Passion", ''Goodbye to Romance: Stories by New Zealand and Australian Women Writers'', Elizabeth Webby and Lydia Wevers (ed), Allen & Unwin, 1989 *"Underdogging", ''Stop Me if You've Heard It: Anthology of Humorous Short Stories'', Jane Arms (ed), ABC Enterprises, 1989 *"The Mateship Syndrome", ''Under Southern Skies'', Eva Laegdsgaard and Inger Marie Dahl (ed), Systime, 1989 *"The Widow", ''The Oxford Book of Australian Short Stories'', Michael Wilding (ed), Oxford University Press, 1994


Notes


References

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External links


Thelma Forshaw
interviewed by Hazel de Berg on 15 August 1969 for the Hazel de Berg collection held at
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
. *The University of Queensland Fryer Library holds two boxes of Forshaw's papers. *The
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
Fryer Library holds several unpublished poems by Forshaw in the
Dorothy Hill Dorothy Hill, (10 September 1907 – 23 April 1997) was an Australian geologist and palaeontologist, the first female professor at an Australian university, and the first female president of the Australian Academy of Science. Education Doroth ...
collection. {{DEFAULTSORT:Forshaw, Thelma 1923 births 1995 deaths Australian women short story writers 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian short story writers