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

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Another Australian who secured some fair return from writing in Australia was C.J.
Dennis. Brady met him first in Adelaide where “Den” edited The Gadfly. He had
visited Brady when in Sydney ever since Brady had served in The Worker office.
When editing The Native Companion, Brady was amused one day to see Dennis
approach, upset over some encounter and “ruffled like a bantam which had been
caught in a thunderstorm.” He was further surprised to see him flashing much money
in the Menzies’ Hotel, having received some hundreds of pounds in royalties from
The Sentimental Bloke, and this at a time when royalties in general were low and few
and far between. Although he met Dennis at intervals thereafter, he never achieved
the kind of relationship with him the he established with so many other writers. He
regarded Dennis’ achievement as a passing one. He considered that the verse of
Quinn and Daley would outlive the suburban figures created in The Sentimental
Bloke. Even in 1947 Brady wrote that “it is very doubtful if the popular characters
which Dennis invented will appeal even to the next generation of Australians.” 1 In
this he had so far proved wrong. The adaptation of Dennis; figures to a musical has
no doubt helped to make a new generation aware of them. It seemed Brady was
judging Dennis’ achievement merely as verse, rather than as an historical and
sociological record of a particular people and time. He is more correct when he likens
Dennis’ achievement to Lawson’s rather then to Quinn’s or Daley’s. Agreeing with
A.H. Chisholm, whose biography of Dennis Brady commented upon, he thought The
Glugs of Gosh a more satirical and better piece of work than The Sentimental Bloke
although it was not as popular with the public. It is true to say that although he was
on friendly terms with Dennis, he never reached intimacy either with the man of his
work. He likened Steel Rudd’s characters to those in Dennis’ books – exaggerated
and not very life-like, although thousands of readers have thought otherwise.
Actually what Brady did in some his serials was not very different from Dennis’
work; but Brady, ever the patriot, was afraid that gross caricatures and stressing of
eccentricities would give a false impression of his countrymen, especially to overseas
readers.
Brady was more appreciative of Joseph Furphy, although as far as is know he never
met him. He prepared an address on Furphy which was read at the unveiling of a
memorial to him at Shepparton in 1947, although he was unable to deliver it himself. 2
The chief importance of Furphy was seen by Brady as being in the contribution he
made to development of the Australian consciousness, but especially in his innovation
in subject and treatment in Such is Life. He felt a oneness with Furphy in his
sympathetic insight into human nature, his kindness tolerance and patient
understanding of men under conditions of privation and relaxation. He saw Furphy’s
“monumental essay” deserving for more attention from both casual and professional
reader than it had previously gained, on account of its very real achievement, both
historically and artistically. He praised Furphy’s “altruism of true genius”,
thoroughly approving his view that the greatness of a country depends upon its
cultural activity as much as the production from field, mine and factory. As has been
pointed out, Brady’s own practice of understatement has similarities with the style of
Furphy in Such is Life.
1 Brady, “The Bloke, and Some Other Ballads”, Twentieth Century, Vol.1 No.4, June 1947, p.31.
2 25.8.1947. The text of this address is among Brady’s papers in National Library.