All That Swagger

Sydney, Australia: Angus & Robertson: Arkon Paperback Editions. Good+. 1979. First Edition Thus; First Printing. Paperback. Good+ to Very Good in Wraps: shows some rubbing to the panels; a half-inch split at the upper front corner of the backstrip where it meets the front panel has been carefully repaired with clear cellophane tape so that it is not readily noticeable; the expected tanning to the text pages due to aging; the outside edges of the text block show faint foxing and the fore-edge also shows a couple of small, faint dampstains; the binding is secure; the text clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A copy showing moderate use, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a little wear and a few cosmetic imperfections. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 12mo. (7.15 x 4.55 x 0.85 inches) . Language: English. Weight: 8.5 ounces. First published in 1936, this is the first Arkon Paperback edition, published in 1979. First Printing Thus. Trade Paperback. Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879 – 1954) , known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel 'My Brilliant Career', published in 1901. While she wrote throughout her life, her other major literary success, All That Swagger, was not published until 1936. She was committed to the development of a uniquely Australian form of literature, and she actively pursued this goal by supporting writers, literary journals, and writers' organisations. She has had a long-lasting impact on Australian literary life through her endowment of a major annual prize for literature about "Australian Life in any of its phases", which resulted in the Miles Franklin Award. Her impact was further recognised in 2013 with the creation of the Stella Prize, awarded annually for the best work of literature by an Australian woman. Franklin resettled in Australia in 1932 after the death of her father in 1931. During that decade she wrote several historical novels of the Australian bush, although most of these were published under the pseudonym "Brent of Bin Bin" to protect herself from poor reviews, as she increasingly feared that nothing she wrote would ever match the success of 'My Brilliant Career'. Nevertheless,' All That Swagger' was published under her own name in 1936, and would indeed match the success of her debut novel, winning the S. H. Prior Memorial Prize. Franklin also won the S. H. Prior Memorial Prize in 1939 together with Kate Baker for their collaborative work 'Who Was Joseph Furphy? '. 'All That Swagger' focusses the day-to-day progress of an Australian squatter family (part of the "squattocracy", those given unclaimed land by the government if they agreed to work it, as opposed to wealthy British who were awarded tracts of land directly by the British government). The book is sprinkled with insanely witty dialog and rumination: "The transformation of the peasant element was in part the contribution of the horse. No man can remain a peasant and go a-horse.... This four footed brother cannot supply what Nature omitted, and change dunces into intellectuals, but he can lighten their bovine peculiarities. Horses! Horses!" The novel is a panoramic exposition of the sweep and context of Australian history and the people who lived it. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; 418 pages .