A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF EDWIN JAMES BRADY - Mallacoota ...

115
This interest in human behaviour, particularly in the mental realm, reaches its height
when attempts are made to analyse the processes of thought which are involved in a
particular action. It must be kept in mind however, that the psychology which Brady
studied and showed deep interest I n was an infantile science in the 1890’s when
many of these stories were written. Two examples of attempted analysis are “The
Remarkable Confession of Martin Creswick” 1 and “Tasso’s Discovery: A
Psychological Romance”. 2 Brady shows some grasp of psychological principles in
his examination of the case of a man who suffers from amnesia for seven years.
Three murders are committed during this period and his reactions on regaining his
memory and finding about his own involvement are plumbed, although not very
comprehensively. His confession, found after his suicide, brings a measure of unity to
what has been three disjointed incidents. When considered in its period, it is an
unusual theme and its treatment once again shows Brady’s concern with psychic
phenomena.
The second of the two stories attempts to examine the psychological processes
involved in dreams, exemplifying how vivid happenings in life can carry over into
one’s dreams and how the opposite is true- that dreams can be so realistic that they
can constitute part of this existence. But as an example of the short story form it has
too many of the deficiencies which Brady should have worked to remedy had his
interest been more than passing one. It has a slow start, a rather anticlimactic ending,
too much verbiage, descriptive detail and comment, an excess of authorial intrusion
and a style far more discursive than the compressed, suggestive manner of the better
short stories. As redeeming features it posses an ironic levity of approach which
some readers would find appealing, a sensuous, journalistic language and a vividness
and immediacy which Brady later found in the short stories of Katherine Mansfield.
As with so many of his other fields of activity, Brady shows a promise in his early
short stories which one would expect to flower into a considerable and satisfying
proficiency. But this was not to be. Occasioned no doubt by the pressures of earning
a living, there was a lack of sufficient discipline to bring about the needed
improvement. The goal of perfection, attained at the cost of vast attention to detail
and an exceedingly strong desire to excel in the particular field is never sufficiently
strong in him. His is the classical case of the versatile man who spreads his talents so
widely that in any one area of achievement they remain fairly thin, with initial
promise unfulfilled.
There are a few later short stories, but these show little advance on the early ones.
Later attention is given more to articles and essays, especially to the political writing
necessary on account of his connection with political journals. At a time when the
short stories in The Bulletin were helping to forge a view of Australia as a unique and
separate country which had and would continue to lead and existence apart from
Britain, Brady’s stories could have aided this process. Because they were published
in journals more obscure than the popular Bulletin, their contribution in this regard
would have been minimal. It is not know definitely whether Brady ever submitted his
short stories to The Bulletin. Certainly there is now no record of submission, no
rejection slips (and he kept many of these in his papers) and no mention anywhere of
his contributions to Archibald’s paper except through verse and the occasional article.
1 The Bird-O-Freedom, 21.12.1895
2 Ibid, 19.12.1894