Editing Joseph Furphy

{{Short description|Australian author and poet (1843–1912)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Joseph Furphy
| image            = SLNSW 822160 29a Joseph Furphy Tom Collins 31103 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize        = 200px
| caption          = 
| pseudonym        = Tom Collins
| birth_date       = 26 September 1843
| birth_place      = [[Yering, Victoria]], Australia
| death_date       = 13 September 1912
| death_place      = [[Claremont, Western Australia]]
| occupation       = Author, poet
| period           = 
| genre            = [[Australian literature]]
| movement         = 
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| signature        = 
}}

'''Joseph Furphy''' ([[Irish names|Irish]]: '''Seosamh Ó Foirbhithe'''; 26 September 1843 – 13 September 1912) was an Australian author and poet.<ref name=ADB>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Clark|first=Manning|url= https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/furphy-joseph-6261/text10785|title=Furphy, Joseph (1843–1912)|date=1981|edition=Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8 |publisher=Melbourne University Press)}}</ref> He mostly wrote under the pseudonym '''Tom Collins'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hoffmann|first=Lois|date=1 May 1984|title=Joseph Furphy: An Annotated Checklist of Items in Periodicals |url=http://www.australianliterarystudies.com.au/articles/joseph-furphy-an-annotated-checklist-of-items-in-periodicals|journal=Australian Literary Studies|volume=11|issue=3|pages=409–416|doi=10.20314/als.4b3ffbbd09}}</ref> and is best known for his novel ''[[Such Is Life (novel)|Such Is Life]]'' (1903), regarded as an Australian classic.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Harris|first=Rob|date=15 November 2019|title=Fifth-generation Furphys breathing new life into the Australian legend|work=The Age|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/fifth-generation-furphys-breathing-new-life-into-the-australian-legend-20191115-p53avt.html|access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Furphy was born at Yering Station in [[Yering, Victoria|Yering]], Victoria.<ref name=ADB/> His father, Samuel Furphy, was originally a tenant farmer from [[Tandragee]], County Armagh, Ireland, who emigrated to Australia in {{Circa|1840-1841}}.<ref>[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bcollins/general/famous/tom.htm Collins Family History – General Information<!-- bot-generated title -->] at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com</ref><ref name=ADB/> Samuel Furphy was head gardener on the station. There was no school in the district and at first Joseph was educated by his mother. The only books available were the Bible and Shakespeare<ref name=ADB/><ref name=":3" /> and at seven years of age Furphy was already learning passages of each by heart; he never forgot them. In about 1850 the family moved to [[Kangaroo Ground, Victoria|Kangaroo Ground]], Victoria,<ref name=ADB/> and here the parents of the district built a school and obtained a master. In 1852 they moved again, to Kyneton where Samuel Furphy began business as a hay and corn merchant.<ref name=ADB/> A few years later he leased a farm and also bought a threshing plant.<ref name=ADB/> This was worked by Joseph and a brother and both became competent engine-drivers. In 1864 Furphy bought a threshing outfit and travelled the Daylesford and surrounding districts. At Glenlyon he met Leonie Selina Germain, a girl of 16 of French extraction, and in {{Circa|1866-1867}} they were married.<ref name=ADB/>

Soon after, his wife's mother went to New Zealand and Furphy for a time carried on her farm, but two years later took up a selection near Colbinabbin. The land proved to be poor and in about 1873 he sold out and soon afterwards bought a team of bullocks.<ref name=ADB/> He became prosperous as the years went by, but the drought came and he had heavy losses.<ref name=ADB/> Some of his bullocks and horses died from pleuro-pneumonia, and in 1884 he accepted a position in the foundry of his brother [[John Furphy|John]] at [[Shepparton, Victoria|Shepparton]].<ref name=ADB/><ref name=":3" /> There he worked for some 20 years doing much reading in the evenings.<ref name=ADB/>

In 1904, Furphy and his wife moved to Western Australia to join his sons.<ref name=ADB/> He built a house at [[Swanbourne, Western Australia|Swanbourne]]. Furphy died in [[Claremont, Western Australia|Claremont]] on 13 September 1912 and is buried in [[Karrakatta Cemetery]].<ref name=ADB/>

==Literary career==
{{Quote box
|width   = 25em
|bgcolor = #F9F9F9
|align   = right
|quote   = "I have just finished writing a full-sized novel; title, ''Such is Life''; the scene, Riverina and northern Vic; temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian."
|source  =  {{mdash}} Furphy's famous self-introduction to [[J. F. Archibald]], published in ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'', April 1897<ref>''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'', April 1897</ref>
}}
In his youth Furphy had written many verses and in December 1867 he had been awarded the first prize of £3 at the Kyneton Literary Society for a vigorous set of verses on 'The [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Death of President Lincoln']].<ref name=ADB/> While living at Shepparton, he was encouraged in his writing by Kate Baker, a schoolteacher<ref name=ADB/> who boarded with his mother. He sent a story 'The Mythical Sundowner' to ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'' under the name 'Warrigal Jack' and it was accepted for publication.<ref name=":0" /> Later works were published under the pseudonym 'Tom Collins' which may have come from the slang term meaning "a fellow about town whom many sought to kill for touching them on 'sore points'".<ref name=":0" />

His most famous work is ''[[Such Is Life (novel)|Such Is Life]]'', a fictional account of the life of rural dwellers, including [[bullocky|bullock drivers]], squatters and itinerant travellers, in southern [[New South Wales]] and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], during the 1880s.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=":2" /> In 1897 the manuscript was sent to ''The Bulletin'' where [[A. G. Stephens]] recognised its worth,<ref name=ADB/> but also that it was not a commercial proposition. He suggested cuts including the replacement of two entire chapters.<ref name=ADB/> Stephens persuaded the proprietors of ''The Bulletin'' to publish the revised ''Such Is Life'' because it was a great Australian work although not commercially viable. It was published in 1903<ref name=ADB/> under his pseudonym 'Tom Collins'<ref name=":0" /> and only sold about a third of the print run. Through the efforts of Kate Baker who bought the residual copies from ''The Bulletin'', later editions were brought out after Furphy's death 

Having removed the original chapters 2 and 5 from ''Such is Life'', Furphy considered joining these portions together as the basis for another novel but instead decided to focus on chapter 5 separately.<ref>{{cite book|last=Devlin-Glass|first=F. |date=1991 |editor-last=Devlin-Glass |editor-first=F. |title=The Annotated Such is Life by Joseph Furphy |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=300–301 |chapter=Textual Note |isbn=}}</ref> He expanded and remodelled the chapter to form ''[[Rigby's Romance]]'', which was serialised in ''[[Barrier Daily Truth|The Barrier Truth]]'' from 27 October 1905 to 20 July 1906. It would be released in book form in 1921.<ref name=austlit>[http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C58100 Austlit - ''Rigby's Romance'' by Joseph Furphy]</ref> After moving to Western Australia in 1905, Furphy commenced work on revising the original second chapter, which he titled ''The Lyre Bird and the Native Companion'' before retitling it ''The Buln-Buln and the Brolga''. Never published in his lifetime, the manuscript was provided by Furphy's son Samuel and ultimately published in book form in 1946.<ref>{{cite book|last=Furphy|first=Joseph|editor-last=Howarth|editor-first=R. G.|date=1946|title=The Buln-Buln and the Brolga|location=Sydney|publisher=Angus & Robertson|page=2}}</ref> Both of these subsequent novels feature the same [[protagonist]], Tom Collins, and function as adjuncts to the first novel.

==Legacy==

''Such is Life'' has been described as Australia's ''[[Moby-Dick|Moby Dick]]'' because, like [[Herman Melville|Melville's]] book, it was neglected for thirty or forty years before being discovered as a classic.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|last1=Serle|first1=Geoffrey|url=http://www.archive.org/details/fromdesertsproph0000serl|title=From Deserts the Prophets come; the creative spirit in Australia 1788-1972|date=1973|publisher=Heinemann|isbn=0855610298|location=Melbourne|page=66}}</ref> The novel contains possibly the first written incidence of the Australian and New Zealand idiom "ropeable". Chapter One contains the following phrase: "On't ole Martin be ropeable when he sees that fence!" The historian [[Stuart Macintyre|Stuart MacIntyre]] has said the book challenged the assumption that "nothing of significance ever happened" in Australia or that Australians lacked "creative originality".

A full biography of Furphy was written through a collaboration of Australian author [[Miles Franklin]] and Furphy's friend [[Kate Baker]], titled ''Joseph Furphy: The Legend of a Man and His Book'', in 1944.<ref name=ADB/>

To honour Furphy, in 1992 his and his brother's descendants established the Furphy Literary award.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> On the 100th anniversary of ''Such is Life'' they also funded a statue in Furphy's home town.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Joseph Furphy {{!}} Monument Australia|url=https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/arts/display/33403-joseph-furphy|access-date=29 June 2021|website=monumentaustralia.org.au}}</ref> The home which Furphy built in Swanbourne is now the headquarters of the West Australian branch of the [[Fellowship of Australian Writers]].

Furphy's popularity may have influenced the usage of the Australian slang word "[[furphy]]", meaning a "tall story". However, scholars consider it more likely that the word originated with water carts, produced in large numbers by J. Furphy & Sons, a company owned by Furphy's brother [[John Furphy|John]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Furphy Literary Award|url=https://www.furphystory.com.au/furphy-literary-award/|access-date=29 June 2021|website=Furphy Story|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Works==
{{listen|filename=A Christmas Hymn.ogg|title=A Christmas Hymn 1915 by Arthur Chanter (1866–1950) |description= 1915 musical setting of lines by Joseph Furphy by [[Arthur Chanter]]}}
* ''[[Such Is Life (novel)|Such Is Life]]'' (1903)
* {{cite book|url= http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/v00039.pdf|title=The Poems of Joseph Furphy|year=1916|editor-first=Kate|editor-last=Baker|editor-link=Kate Baker|publisher=Lothian Book Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd.|location=Melbourne & Sydney|first=Joseph|last=Furphy|via=University of Sydney Library}}
* ''[[Rigby's Romance]]'' (1921)
* ''The Buln Buln and the Brolga'' (1946)
* Various articles in periodicals ([https://www.australianliterarystudies.com.au/articles/joseph-furphy-an-annotated-checklist-of-items-in-periodicals Joseph Furphy: An Annotated Checklist of Items in Periodicals])
* Christmas Hymn to music composed by Australian composer [[Arthur Chanter]]<ref>{{cite web|title= "A Christmas Hymn" by Joseph Furphy |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C393184|access-date= 14 September 2024}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

== Further reading ==
*Archer, A. L. ''Tom Collins (Joseph Furphy) as I Knew Him'' (Melb, 1941)
*{{cite book|title=The Order of Things: A Life of Joseph Furphy|first=John|last=Barnes|year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press Australia|isbn=0-19-553187-6|location=South Melbourne, Australia}}
*''Bushman and Bookworm: Letters of Joseph Furphy '' edited by John Barnes and Lois Hoffmann; Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1995
* {{cite journal|title=The Mythical Sundowner|first=Joseph|last=Furphy|url=https://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/JASAL/article/download/9842/9730|format=pdf|year=2013|issue=1|volume=13|journal= Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literary Criticism|publisher=National Library of Australia}} — this is the first article published in ''The Bulletin'' by Furphy, under the pseudonym "Warrigal Jack"
*Furphy papers (State Library of New South Wales).
*Croft, Julian ''The Life and Opinions of Tom Collins: A Study of the Works of Joseph Furphy'' St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press 1991
*{{Cite journal | title = Table of contents | journal = Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literary Criticism| volume = 13 | issue = 1 | publisher = [[National Library of Australia]] | date = 2013 | url = http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/issue/view/249/showToc }}
*''The annotated Such Is Life: being certain extracts from the diary of Tom Collins / by Joseph Furphy'' ; with an introduction and notes by Frances Devlin-Glass, Robin Eaden, Lois Hoffmann and G.W.Turner; Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1991

== External links ==
* [http://www.josephfurphy.com.au The official Joseph Furphy website]
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/joseph-furphy}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1205| name=Joseph Furphy}}
* {{Gutenberg Australia |id=plusfifty-a-m.html#letterF |name=Joseph Furphy |author=yes}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12993}}
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bcollins/general/famous/tom.htm rootsweb.com "Collins Family History" ]
* [http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/view/319/464 Susan Martin '"us circling round and round": The Track of narrative and the ghosts of lost children in ''Such is Life'' ' ''JASAL'' Special Issue 2007]
*[https://www.furphystory.com.au/furphy-literary-award/ The Furphy Literary Award site]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furphy, Joseph}}
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1912 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery]]
[[Category:Writers from Perth, Western Australia]]
[[Category:Writers from Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Australian male short story writers]]
[[Category:Australian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Australian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:People from the Riverina]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian novelists]]
[[Category:Australian Christian socialists]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian male writers]]
[[Category:Australian male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]