Hocking, Jenny. Frank Hardy: Politics Literature Life

Description

Frank Hardy: Politics Literature Life
by Jenny Hocking.

Lothian, Melbourne, 2005.
First Edition hardback.

Cover portrait by Andrew Sibley.
Back cover photo of 1951 referendum on banning the Communist Party of Australia graffiti, courtesy of James Molinski/Fim Art Doco.

Hocking’s life of the author of The Power and the Glory, his thinly veiled portrait of the gambler, Catholic and ALP heavyweight John Wren, and the criminal libel case which followed.

‘An important part of this book is her analysis of a series of what she calls “show trials” in the Australia of the 1940s and ’50s. Robert Close, Ken Miller, William Dobell and Max Harris were all involved in trials involving trumped up or exaggerated offences that left them psychologically scarred and dysfunctional. Hardy’s was the final in a series of prosecutions that reinforced conservative values and warned artists and activists against transgression.

In this regard Hardy speaks directly to contemporary Australian politics.’ (James Griffiths, The Age, 13 March 2004)

Condition: A little shelf wear to bottom boards and spine and small mark on outer page edges, otherwise very good.