"For Australia": Joseph Furphy and Australian literary culture, 1889-1912

This thesis re-examines the Australian literary field of the 1890s by focussing on the life and times of the novelist Joseph Furphy. He had only one book, Such is Life, published during his lifetime but in addition produced a small volume of literary work. All of his works have been published or re-published since his death in 1912. To better appreciate why Furphy struggled to secure publication of his writing requires understanding not only of the author himself but also of Australian society and culture at the time he was writing. To this end this thesis considers the ideas of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concepts of capital, habitus and field as a useful frame of reference. The ensuing analysis uses this framework for the interrelated dynamics within a social space – a literary field – to explain the production of literary works. Using Bourdieu’s idea that the social space in which works were produced is the proper starting point for interpreting literary works, the first section of the thesis defines a relevant literary field. The next section analyses Furphy’s confrontations within this literary field as he proceeded in his life as an author. An essential part of a Bourdieuan analysis depends upon recognising that a literary field is a microcosm of society where outside events are mediated through the particular autonomy of the field. In considering this, the remainder of the thesis analyses Furphy’s writing as he engaged with the topics of education, religion, language and identity as they were retranslated through the specific logic operating within an Australian literary field of the 1890s.