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The Pea-Pickers
''The Pea-Pickers'' is a novel by the Australian writer Eve Langley, first published in 1942. It is a first person, semi-autobiographical narrative about two sisters who travel in the 1920s to Gippsland, and other rural areas, to work as agricultural labourers. It shared the 1940 S. H. Prior Memorial Prize (run by ''The Bulletin'') with Kylie Tennant's ''The Battlers''. ''The Pea-Pickers'' received much critical acclaim when it was published, but then interest lapsed and, in the next few decades, it received only "sporadic critical attention".Arkin (1981) p. 109 It has been discussed briefly in studies of the Australian novel, but by the early 1980s, only Douglas Stewart had done a lengthy analysis of it. However, in 2001 it was re-released by Angus and Robertson in their Classics series. It has been described as "one of the more extraordinary novels of the first half of the twentieth century in terms of pastoral imagery".Falkiner (1992) p. 153 The book was not written until the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eve Langley
Eve Langley (1 September 1904 – c. 1 June 1974), born Ethel Jane Langley, was an Australian-New Zealand novelist and poet. Her novels belong to a tradition of Australian women's writing that explores the conflict between being an artist and being a woman. Life Langley was born in Forbes, New South Wales, the eldest daughter of carpenter Arthur Alexander Langley (died 1915), and his wife Myra, née Davidson, both of whom came from Victoria. Eve's mother was disinherited as the result of her marriage and the family spent much of its life in poverty. After Arthur died, Myra returned to Victoria, initially managing her brother's hotel at Crossover. Eve and her sister June attended several schools in New South Wales and Victoria, including Brunswick Central and Dandenong State Schools, and Dandenong High School.Thwaite (2000) In the 1920s Eve and her sister worked their way around the countryside of Gippsland as agricultural labourers, which experience forms the base of her first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |