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

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Brady has not clearly established the guidelines upon which he can justifiably present
his biography and the work suffers as a result of an imprecision of effect, a diffusion
of emphasis and constant digression. Surely it is not necessary to go back to St.
Patrick in 432 A.D. to present an adequate portrait of a twentieth century man, yet this
is part of the process which Brady refers to as “a stippling of appropriate colours”, a
preparation of the canvas before the actual portrait is begun, and this is in chapter
three! Constant authorial intrusion, hyperbole, particularly in regard to the Irish (with
no hint of their aggressiveness, prejudice or backwardness) and an outright failure to
come to grips with the main problem of the book are evident. Facile judgments, such
as the portrayal of the Catholic education system ad “the best”, with no qualifying
explanation of criteria, and an annoying style of writing which never quite hits the
mark are apparent. For example, the chapter which tells of the outbreak of way
begins:
Now the winter of social discontent is about to be made glorious by the gory
sun of war. Now we reach a stage in the history of civilisation when the stout
Falstaff of commerce places a sharpened sword in the hands of twentieth
century youth, bidding or cajoling it to go forth and slay or be slain. Now
doth Pandora open the box! Now shall the Financial Furies weave their final
spells in order that the evil and destructive passions of humanity shall be free
to work their unrestrained wickedness. Now shall be imposed upon the
nations an obligation to share iniquity and participate in crime … Were such
thoughts in the mind of the Archbishop of Melbourne in the days of August
1914? 1
As a biography, Dr. Mannix has so many stylistic and artistic deficiencies that is must
be judged an outright failure in its attempt to portray a strong-minded, controversial
figure. It is probably true that Brady was working on other drafts at the time, most
likely on Wardens of the Seas and his weekly articles for The Labour Call. Even so,
there is no excuse for such slovenly workmanship, its publication giving more weight
to the picture of him as a man without professional pride and perseverance – a mere
dilettante in literature. Speaking of the development of biography in Australia, H.M.
Green contrasts: “the excellence of the material and the mediocrity of its
presentation; here, as in other departments of Australian literature, may be seen the
influence of the journalistic method that is evident in all but the best of it.” 2 Brady’s
example of biography contains many of the worst features of the journalistic method –
its emotive prose, its diffusion and its verbosity.
If Brady’s claim to either journalistic prowess of literary skill rested on this work
alone, his standing would be unspectacular indeed but there is another body of
writings, which might loosely be called geographical and commercial, which makes
up quite a large part of Brady’s prose output. In these he gives an account of certain
parts of the country through which he has travelled, betraying the close observation of
the journalist, which, together with his usual mixture of polemic and social criticism
and comment, produces an interesting melange which informs, entertains and at times
challenges the reader. He embodies geographical data and statistics, economic
comment and analysis, historical background and antecedents in these works, along
with literary and aesthetic ideas and emotions aroused by the experiences and places
discussed.
1 P. 50
2 A History of Australian Literature, p. 1270.