Amy Witting
Encyclopedia
Amy Witting was the pen name of an Australian novelist and poet born Joan Austral Fraser She was widely acknowledged as one of Australia's "finest fiction writers, whose work was full of the atmosphere and colour or times past".
suburb of Annandale
, and was brought up as a Catholic. She has "melancholy memories of a repressive family life" and remembered the nuns at her school, St Brendan's College, as being "obsessed with the torments of hell". She suffered from tuberculosis as a child.
She went to Fort Street Girls' High School. She studied languages at the University of Sydney
where she met, among others, James McAuley
, Harold Stewart
and Dorothy Auchterlonie
. Subsequently she gained a Diploma of Education at Teachers College and became a school teacher. Her tuberculosis recurred in her early adulthood, resulting in her spending time in a sanitorium which "gave her, for a time, the peace and solitude she always craved".
On 28 July 1934, when Witting was 16, one of her poems, written under the pseudonym De Guesclin, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Witting always wrote under a pseudonym. Her name, Amy Witting, is from a promise she made to herself to "never give up on consciousness', not be unwitting, but to always remain 'witting'".
Witting married Les Levick, a fellow high school teacher, in 1948, and they had one son. Greg. She continued to write until her death, dying of cancer a few weeks after the publication of After Cynthia, her last novel, in 2001.
in April 1965. Indeed, the poet Kenneth Slessor
told Thea Astley to "tell that women I'll publish any word she writes".
In 1974, using the pseudonym Chris Willoughby, she wrote a lampoon for Tabloid Story as the result of her anger a "the sexism of the Frank Moorhouse
/Michael Wilding
tabloid Story tales of sex with an unconscious drugged girl at a party". Her story outraged parents, politicians and teachers; the Minister for Education accused her of corrupting children and stated in Parliament that "Amy Witting is a scribbler on lavatory walls". However, this did not harm her career, and three years later she was mistress of modern languages at North Sydney Girls' High School.
However, her success came late in life when, in retirement, she could spend more time on her writing. Her first novel, The Visit was published by well-known Australian editor Beatrice Davis. However she rejected I for Isobel on the grounds that "No mother has ever behaved so badly" and McPhee Gribble also rejected it saying that "It's difficult to see what market you had in mind for it". However, it was published by Penguin Books and became an instant best seller. It was with the publication of this book that her talent was finally recognised.
Critic Peter Craven suggests that while her "poetry is the work of a writer who has mastery of any meaning she wishes to convey, [her] fiction took some time to reach fruition, partly because the publishing climate which would be receptive to Witting's brand of realism had to wait the advent of such writers as Helen Garner
. Craven writes that "Witting was a great master of realism, a naturalist who could render a nuance in a line that might take a lesser writer a page".
Her last three works - Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop, Faces and Voices, and After Cynthia - were written under difficulty: her sight and hearing were failing, and she was stricken with cancer.
Life
Amy Witting was born in the SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of Annandale
Annandale, New South Wales
Annandale is a suburb of Inner West Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Annandale is located within 3-5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt. Annandale's northern end lies on Rozelle Bay,...
, and was brought up as a Catholic. She has "melancholy memories of a repressive family life" and remembered the nuns at her school, St Brendan's College, as being "obsessed with the torments of hell". She suffered from tuberculosis as a child.
She went to Fort Street Girls' High School. She studied languages at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
where she met, among others, James McAuley
James McAuley
James Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...
, Harold Stewart
Harold Stewart
Harold Frederick Stewart was an Australian poet and oriental scholar. He is chiefly remembered as the enigmatic other half of Ern Malley.Stewart's work has been associated with James McAuley and A. D...
and Dorothy Auchterlonie
Dorothy Auchterlonie
Dorothy Auchterlonie AO was an English-born Australian academic, literary critic and poet.-Life:Auchterlonie was born in Sunderland, County Durham in England...
. Subsequently she gained a Diploma of Education at Teachers College and became a school teacher. Her tuberculosis recurred in her early adulthood, resulting in her spending time in a sanitorium which "gave her, for a time, the peace and solitude she always craved".
On 28 July 1934, when Witting was 16, one of her poems, written under the pseudonym De Guesclin, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Witting always wrote under a pseudonym. Her name, Amy Witting, is from a promise she made to herself to "never give up on consciousness', not be unwitting, but to always remain 'witting'".
Witting married Les Levick, a fellow high school teacher, in 1948, and they had one son. Greg. She continued to write until her death, dying of cancer a few weeks after the publication of After Cynthia, her last novel, in 2001.
Career
For most of her working life, teaching English and French, and making a living took priority and writing was done only in her spare time. Already established Australian writer Thea Astley, who taught with Witting at Cheltenham Girls High, was impressed by one of her stories, Goodbye, Ady, Goodbye, Joe, and encouraged her to submit it for publication. It was published in The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
in April 1965. Indeed, the poet Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Adolf Slessor OBE was an Australian poet and journalist. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.-Life:Slessor was born Kenneth Adolphe...
told Thea Astley to "tell that women I'll publish any word she writes".
In 1974, using the pseudonym Chris Willoughby, she wrote a lampoon for Tabloid Story as the result of her anger a "the sexism of the Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
/Michael Wilding
Michael Wilding (actor)
-Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...
tabloid Story tales of sex with an unconscious drugged girl at a party". Her story outraged parents, politicians and teachers; the Minister for Education accused her of corrupting children and stated in Parliament that "Amy Witting is a scribbler on lavatory walls". However, this did not harm her career, and three years later she was mistress of modern languages at North Sydney Girls' High School.
However, her success came late in life when, in retirement, she could spend more time on her writing. Her first novel, The Visit was published by well-known Australian editor Beatrice Davis. However she rejected I for Isobel on the grounds that "No mother has ever behaved so badly" and McPhee Gribble also rejected it saying that "It's difficult to see what market you had in mind for it". However, it was published by Penguin Books and became an instant best seller. It was with the publication of this book that her talent was finally recognised.
Critic Peter Craven suggests that while her "poetry is the work of a writer who has mastery of any meaning she wishes to convey, [her] fiction took some time to reach fruition, partly because the publishing climate which would be receptive to Witting's brand of realism had to wait the advent of such writers as Helen Garner
Helen Garner
Helen Garner is an award-winning Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.-Life:Garner was born in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six children. She attended Manifold Heights State School, Ocean Grove State School and then The Hermitage in Geelong...
. Craven writes that "Witting was a great master of realism, a naturalist who could render a nuance in a line that might take a lesser writer a page".
Her last three works - Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop, Faces and Voices, and After Cynthia - were written under difficulty: her sight and hearing were failing, and she was stricken with cancer.
Awards and nominations
- 1990: Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
. Shortlisted for I for Isobel - 1993: Patrick White AwardPatrick White AwardThe Patrick White Award is an annual literary prize established by Patrick White. White used his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature award to establish a trust for this prize....
(1993) and the - 2000: The Age Book of the Year AwardThe Age Book of the YearThe Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival...
Fiction Prize. ' - 2000: Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
. Shortlisted for Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop - 2002: Posthumously awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM0 for, "service to Australian literature as a novelist, poet and short story writer, and as a mentor to younger writers".