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The Sponge Divers
''The Sponge Divers'' (1955) is a novel by Australian authors Charmian Clift Charmian Clift (30 August 19238 July 1969) was an Australian writer and essayist. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston. Biography Clift was born in Kiama, New South Wales in 1923. She married George Johnston ... and George Johnston. The novel was also published in the USA under the title ''The Sea and the Stone''. Plot outline The novel is centred around the Greek island of Kalymnos where, for thousands of years, the locals have put out to sea to dive for sponges. But now a chemist has developed a synthetic substitute and the locals must learn to deal with the consequences of that discovery. Critical reception Don Edwards, reviewing the novel in ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', found that the authors "have an exotic setting that gives them opportunities for the descriptive writing they favour." And "Ultimately, the strength of their achievement lies in their cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift (30 August 19238 July 1969) was an Australian writer and essayist. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston. Biography Clift was born in Kiama, New South Wales in 1923. She married George Johnston in 1947. They had three children, the eldest of whom was the poet Martin Johnston. After Clift and Johnston's collaboration ''High Valley'' (1949) won them recognition as writers, they left Australia with their young family, working in London before relocating to the Greek island of Kalymnos and later Hydra to try living by the pen. She met the songwriter Leonard Cohen whilst there in 1960. Johnston returned to Australia to receive the accolades of his Miles Franklin Award-winner ''My Brother Jack''. Clift moved back to Sydney with their children in 1964, after which her memoirs ''Mermaid Singing'' and ''Peel Me a Lotus'' and her novel ''Honour's Mimic'' became successes. She was also well known for the 240 essays she wrote between 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Johnston (novelist)
George Henry Johnston OBE (20 July 191222 July 1970) was an Australian journalist, war correspondent and novelist, best known for ''My Brother Jack''. He was the husband and literary collaborator of Charmian Clift. Life George Henry Johnston was born in Melbourne and spent his childhood in the family home in Elsternwick and was educated in local secondary schools before taking up an apprenticeship as a lithographer. He was subsequently taken on as a journalist for the Melbourne '' Argus'' newspaper. He achieved a certain fame due to his dispatches as a correspondent during World War II. With his second wife, Charmian Clift he was posted to London as a European correspondent. In 1951, Albert Arlen tried to engage Johnston's services as writer of his musical ''The Sentimental Bloke'', but he was not interested. Johnston abandoned his journalism career in 1954 and moved with Clift to the Greek island of Hydra, where he began writing full-time and took part in the island's circle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Collins, Sons
William Collins, Sons (often referred to as Collins) was a Scottish printing and publishing company founded by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in partnership with Charles Chalmers, the younger brother of Thomas Chalmers, minister of Tron Church, Glasgow. Collins merged with Harper & Row in 1990, forming a new publisher named HarperCollins. History The company had to overcome many early obstacles, and Charles Chalmers left the business in 1825. The company eventually found success in 1841 as a printer of Bibles, and, in 1848, Collins's son Sir William Collins developed the firm as a publishing venture, specialising in religious and educational books. The company was renamed William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd. in 1868. (The Library of Congress reports W. Collins & Co., or William Collins & Company, Collins & Co., etc., before "sometime in the 1860s", then "William Collins Sons and Co.") Although the early emphasis of the company had been on relig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1955 In Australian Literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1955. Books * Martin Boyd – ''A Difficult Young Man'' * Jon Cleary – ''Justin Bayard'' * Charmian Clift & George Johnston – ''The Sponge Divers'' * Alfred E. Couchman – ''Fair Field, No Favor'' * Dymphna Cusack – ''The Sun in Exile'' * Mary Durack – ''Keep Him My Country'' * Barbara Jefferis – ''Beloved Lady'' * D'Arcy Niland – '' The Shiralee'' * Ruth Park – ''Pink Flannel'' * Colin Roderick – ''The Lady and the Lawyer'' * Nevil Shute – '' Requiem for a Wren'', (aka ''The Breaking Wave'') * E. V. Timms – '' They Came from the Sea'' * Arthur Upfield – ''The Battling Prophet'' * F. B. Vickers – ''The Mirage'' * Patrick White – ''The Tree of Man'' Short stories * A. Bertram Chandler – "Late" * John Morrison – ''Black Cargo and Other Stories'' * Vance Palmer – ''Let the Birds Fly'' * Dal Stivens – ''Ironbark Bill'' Children's and You ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1955 Australian Novels
Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18–January 20, 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan). * January 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), armed with nuclear weapons. * January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England. * January 25 – The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. * January 28 – The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Taiwan, Formosa from the People's Republic of China. February * February ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
