Eric Lambert (author)
Encyclopedia
Eric Frank Lambert was an Australian author
and a member of the Communist Party of Australia
.
in 1918, Eric Lambert emigrated at the age of 2 with his parents - they settled in Manly
, Sydney
, Australia. He left school at the age of 17 and worked in a garage having been denied the grammar school and university education he hankered after. In 1940 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force
. He saw action in the Middle East with the 2nd/2nd Machine-Gun Battalion (January 1941-October 1942) and the 2nd/15th Battalion (to January 1943) before sailing for Australia. From August 1943 he was in Papua New Guinea
with the 2nd/15th, returning home in March 1944. While in Singapore
(September-October 1945) assisting the repatriation of prisoners of war from Changi, he was promoted to Sergeant. He was discharged in Melbourne
on 7 December 1945. determined to work for the cause of peace, soon meeting and joining forces with Frank Hardy
, who was at a similar stage with his first novel, Power without Glory. Hardy persuaded him to join the Communist Party.
and despite of getting caught up in the Cold War
politics of the time, it sold three quarters of a million copies.
. In 1955 he attended the World Assembly for Peace in Helsinki
and afterwards stayed on in London. Hearing of disturbing events in Hungary, he crossed the border without a visa during the 1956 uprising
and was horrified by the aggression of the Soviets against the young people who were demonstrating for independence and peace. Back in London, he attempted to get his reports published in the Communist Party press, but to no avail and left the Party embittered with communism. Instead, he wrote about events in Hungary for The Daily Telegraph
, much to the chagrin of his former communist colleagues.
, and apart from drawing further on his war experience he also dealt with the Eureka Stockade
, in The Five Bright Stars (1954) and Ned Kelly
in Kelly (1964). He remarried in March 1963 to Phyllis Hogarth. Lambert formerly adopted Hogarth's daughter and Phyllis gave birth to their own daughter, Francesca, in early 1964. He was devoted to them and although his ill-health and his depression was a feature, being a father provided him with much happiness. Sadly, he later died of acute hypertensive heart failure in April 1966 in Little Maplestead, Essex.
Author: Zoe O'Leary
Publication Details: Sydney : Edwards & Shaw, 1974.
Language: English
Identifier: ISBN 085551003X
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and a member of the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
.
Early life
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1918, Eric Lambert emigrated at the age of 2 with his parents - they settled in Manly
Manly
Manly is an adjective corresponding to manhood or masculinity.Manly may also refer to:-Places:* Manly, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney** Manly Council, a local government area in Sydney...
, Sydney
Sydney
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...
, Australia. He left school at the age of 17 and worked in a garage having been denied the grammar school and university education he hankered after. In 1940 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force
Australian Imperial Force
The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...
. He saw action in the Middle East with the 2nd/2nd Machine-Gun Battalion (January 1941-October 1942) and the 2nd/15th Battalion (to January 1943) before sailing for Australia. From August 1943 he was in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
with the 2nd/15th, returning home in March 1944. While in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
(September-October 1945) assisting the repatriation of prisoners of war from Changi, he was promoted to Sergeant. He was discharged in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
on 7 December 1945. determined to work for the cause of peace, soon meeting and joining forces with Frank Hardy
Frank Hardy
Francis Joseph Hardy, or Frank, was an Australian left-wing novelist and writer best known for his controversial novel Power Without Glory. He also was a political activist bringing the plight of Aboriginal Australians to international attention with the publication of his book, The Unlucky...
, who was at a similar stage with his first novel, Power without Glory. Hardy persuaded him to join the Communist Party.
Writing career
He started writing on a Commonwealth Literary Fund grant and self-published his first novel The Twenty Thousand Thieves which was later taken up by Frederick Muller Ltd. London, in 1952. It was based on his memories of WWIIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and despite of getting caught up in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
politics of the time, it sold three quarters of a million copies.
Realist Writers
With Frank Hardy and Stephen Murray-Smith, Lambert co-founded the Melbourne Realist Writers Association and collaborated with its members to edit and produce its journal, the Realist Writer. In the mid 50s, he was a co-founder of the journal OverlandOverland (literary journal)
Overland is an Australian literary and cultural journal. It was founded in 1954, under the auspices of the Realist Writers Group in Melbourne, Australia, with Stephen Murray-Smith being the first editor. The current editor is Jeff Sparrow. The journal has a left-wing orientation.- External links :*...
. In 1955 he attended the World Assembly for Peace in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
and afterwards stayed on in London. Hearing of disturbing events in Hungary, he crossed the border without a visa during the 1956 uprising
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
and was horrified by the aggression of the Soviets against the young people who were demonstrating for independence and peace. Back in London, he attempted to get his reports published in the Communist Party press, but to no avail and left the Party embittered with communism. Instead, he wrote about events in Hungary for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
, much to the chagrin of his former communist colleagues.
Later life
He had continued writing throughout his time in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and apart from drawing further on his war experience he also dealt with the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
, in The Five Bright Stars (1954) and Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
in Kelly (1964). He remarried in March 1963 to Phyllis Hogarth. Lambert formerly adopted Hogarth's daughter and Phyllis gave birth to their own daughter, Francesca, in early 1964. He was devoted to them and although his ill-health and his depression was a feature, being a father provided him with much happiness. Sadly, he later died of acute hypertensive heart failure in April 1966 in Little Maplestead, Essex.
Extant articles
- some of the ones written whilst a member of the Realist Writers group, Melbourne Branch- ([1947]1953) ‘Guns’, Jindyworobak Anthology, Melbourne : Jindyworobak.
- (1950) ‘Dinner at Moussa’s’, Meanjin, Winter 1950:93-97.
- (1951) ‘Wings of the morning’, Meanjin, Summer 1951:325-30.
- (1951) ‘The book’, Meat Industry Journal, Mar-Apr 1951:6.
- (1951) ‘Owners’, Maritime Worker, May 1951:2.
- (1952) ‘Why we need this book society’, Meanjin, v 11, n 1, 1952:293-4.
- (1952) ‘You write because you live’, Realist Writer, Sept-Oct 1952:7-8,16).
- (1952) ‘The craft of writing’, Realist Writer, Nov-Dec 1952:8-11.
- (1954) ‘My old Australian mate’, Tribune, 7.4.54:7.
Novels
- (1951) The Twenty Thousand Thieves, Melbourne : Newmont. (self-published but later taken up by Frederick Muller Ltd. London; now in its 11th print with Penguin, Australia)
- (1954) The Veterans, London : Shakespeare Head.
- (1955) The Five Bright Stars, Sydney : Australasian Book Society.
- ([1956]1963) Watermen, London : Brown, Watson Ltd.
- (1958) The Dark Backward, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1959) Glory Thrown In, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1960) The Rehabilitated Man, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1962) Ballarat, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1963) Dolphin, London : Frederick Muller ltd.
- (1963) The Drip Dry Man, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1963) Diggers Die Hard, London : Fleetway Colourbacks.
- ([1964]1966) Kelly, London : Corgi Books.
- ([1964]1965) A Short Walk to the Stars, London : Corgi Books.
- (1965) The Tender Conspiracy, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1965) MacDougal’s Farm, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- ([1965]1968) The Long White Night, London : Corgi Books.
- (1967) Hiroshima Reef, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
- (1967) Mad With Much Heart, London : Frederick Muller Ltd.
Works published under known pseudonyms
- Lambert, Eric as Frank Brennan (1960a) Oscar Wilde, London : Landsborough Publications, Four Square Books.
- Lambert, Eric as Frank Brennan (1960b) Sink the Bismarck, London : Landsborough Publications, Four Square Books.
- Lambert, Eric as Frank Brennan (1961) North to Alaska, London : Landsborough Publications, Four Square Books.
Biography
Title: Desolate market : a biography of Eric LambertAuthor: Zoe O'Leary
Publication Details: Sydney : Edwards & Shaw, 1974.
Language: English
Identifier: ISBN 085551003X