''For Love Alone '' (1944) is a novel by Australian writer
Christina Stead.
Story outline
Set in Sydney and London in the 1930s, the novel tells the story of Teresa Hawkins and her search for the ideal of love. She follows the unworthy Jonathan Crow to London and discovers Crow's corruption and egoistic shallowness. Taken under the wing of an older man, James Quick, she discovers a renewed sense of love and compassion.
Critical reception
A reviewer in ''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide) was not impressed with the novel at all: "This is a sadly disappointing fact, for Christina Stead for long has been outstanding among Australian writers, and her novels have been unusually brilliant books. In this novel, though, she has attempted a realistic subject and approach, and both subject and approach are quite unsuited to her talents. Her supposed realism, in contrast to her previous fantasy, is unselective and generally without significance. It makes the characters ridiculous figures whose actions appear meaningless and purposeless."
In reviewing the novel when it was re-issued in 1970, W.S. Ramson compared it to
Martin Boyd
Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 – 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born into the à Beckett– Boyd family, a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19t ...
's novel ''
Lucinda Brayford Lucinda may refer to:
* Lucinda (given name), people with the given name ''Lucinda''
* Lucinda, Queensland, a town in Australia
* '' Lucinda (steam yacht)'', a steam yacht of the Queensland Government
* ''Lucinda'' (novel), a novel by P. D. Manvi ...
'', also re-issued at that time: "''For Love Alone'' is as different in style as it is possible to be, feminine, intuitive, almost claustrophobic in its intensity and introspectiveness, masterful rather than masterly in its assurance. Miss Stead worries at her subject examining and analysing, leeching her material dry, probing through a world which bends before the weight of her examination, and becomes strained and distorted into a new and tightly controlled perspective."
Film Adaptation
The novel was adapted into a film of the
same name in 1986. The adaptation was written and directed by
Stephen Wallace
Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. (born 23 December 1943) is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on ...
, and featured
Helen Buday
Helen Buday (born 1962) is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Savannah Nix in the film ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome''. She was awarded Best Actress at the 48th Valladolid International Film Festival in 2003 for her r ...
,
Sam Neill, and
Hugo Weaving.
IMDB - ''For Love ALone''
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See also
* 1944 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1944.
Events
* The Ern Malley literary hoax is conceived when '' Angry Penguins'' editor Max Harris publishes the poems of the fictitious p ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:For Love Alone
Novels by Christina Stead
1944 Australian novels
Australian novels adapted into films
Harcourt (publisher) books