My Brilliant Career
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| My Brilliant Career | |
| Author | Miles Franklin |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | William Blackwood & Sons |
| Publication date | 1901 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 319 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| Followed by | My Career Goes Bung |
My Brilliant Career is a 1901 novel by Miles Franklin. It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879-1954), one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, as a romance to amuse her friends. Franklin submitted the manuscript to Henry Lawson who contributed a preface and took it to his own publishers in Edinburgh. The popularity of the novel in Australia and the perceived closeness of many of the characters to her own family and circumstances as small farmers in New South Wales near Goulburn caused Franklin a great deal of distress and led her to withdrawing the novel from publication until after her death.
Shortly after the publication of My Brilliant Career, Franklin wrote a sequel, My Career Goes Bung, which would not be published until 1946.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The heroine, Sybylla, a headstrong girl growing up in late 19th century Australia, has the opportunity of marriage to a wealthy young man (Harry), but rejects it in order to maintain her independence, instead being forced to take a job as governess/housekeeper to the family of an illiterate neighbour to whom her father owes money.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A 1979 film version, produced by Margaret Fink, directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. Sybylla is a young woman with big dreams of becoming a well known writer. She lives in the outback of Australia with her family struggling with the drought and monetary problems. Her journey to finding her self and making the hardest choices of her life begins when her mother says she can’t afford to keep her and sends Sybylla to her rich grandmother's house where she learns to love. But instead of pursuing love and becoming a rich housewife like every young lady should do, Sybylla does not wish to give up her big dreams of becoming a distinguished writer. She chooses a 'brilliant' career over love and getting married, getting a book published in 1901.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
Western Australian band The Panics released a song of the same name on their debut EP in 2002, which is presumably named after the book.
[edit] Release details
- 1901, Australia, William Blackwood & Sons (ISBN NA), Pub date ? ? 1901, hardback (First edition)
- 1980, UK, Virago Press (ISBN 0-86068-193-9), Pub date 14 July 1980, paperback
- 1980, UK, St Martins Press (ISBN 0-312-55599-7), Pub date ? October 1980, hardback
- 1987, UK, G K Hall & Co (ISBN 0-8161-4158-4), Pub date ? February 1987, hardback
- 2006, USA, Filiquarian Publishing (ISBN 1-59986-972-1), Pub date 16 May 2006, paperback
[edit] External links
- My Brilliant Career, available at Project Gutenberg.
