The Furphy Anthology 2022
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley December 1, 2022
Author Selected authors
Distributor: Hardie Grant
ISBN: 9781743798454
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishers
Release Date: November 2022
Website: https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/books
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Reading a collection of short stories is always interesting to see what is the underlying emotion in all of them, or are they all so very different that each one is a gem of its own, capturing in a short moment something rare and different.
A the recently held 2022 Furphy Awards Cate Kennedy collected the award for Art and Life that tells the story of a talented, perhaps even prodigy, violinist whose career takes off on an unexpected pathway, when he realises that perhaps busking is not the way forward, but creating living statues of people going about their everyday life is: well at least it earns him some money.
The problem was real life somehow got left behind and the world of imagination took over which made life as a ‘geek’, become very interesting indeed. Art and Life is a somewhat quirky moment in time written with a wry sense of humour.
The Game from Lisa Moule earned a Highly Commended and looks at the games people play when they use others talents to tread the pathway of their life, somehow managing to succeed up to a point. Set in a school and focusing on the teachers, a really interesting cameo is drawn on how we all allow such things to occur in our lives, without attempting to make changes.
A somewhat sombre offering is Winter is for regret from Natalie Vella portraying growing old when the person you have spent your life with changes and life, no matter what becomes ever more challenging to simply try to be ‘normal’.
Thirteen more stories have been selected for this Anthology each one focusing on a small aspect of life and interestingly, there are few that are other than driven with a deep sense of almost a sadness, hopelessness, or despair and acceptance, which is somewhat fascinating and is what could easily be considered as a reflection the world of today, or simply that it there is far more material in the world of sadness and sorrow than any other aspect of life.
Maybe!
The Furphy Awards:
Everyone can write at least one good story. That was the belief of J. F. Archibald, the editor and founder of the famous nineteenth-century weekly, The Bulletin, who invited his readers to become contributors. It was this encouragement that led Joseph Furphy, working in his brother’s foundry at Shepparton, to write his novel, Such is Life, using the pseudonym of ‘Tom Collins’. The book, full of stories derived from Joseph’s experience in the Riverina and told in a voice uniquely his own, is now acknowledged to be a classic of Australian literature. In the spirit of Archibald and honouring the author of Such is Life, the Furphy Literary Award has been established to promote and extend the tradition of story telling, both factual and fictional, that is so much part of Australian life.