Brian Penton
Brian Penton was an influential Australian journalist and author, born on August 4, 1904, in Brisbane to English émigré parents. After leaving high school, he began his career in journalism at the Brisbane Courier in 1920 and later earned a diploma in journalism from the University of Queensland in 1924. Penton worked for notable publications such as the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph, where he became the editor and significantly impacted Australian journalism during his tenure from 1941 to 1951. He is known for his literary contributions, including his novels "Landtakers" (1934) and "Inheritors" (1936), which explore themes of migration and national identity in Australia, as well as his theoretical essay "Note on the Form of the Novel." His writing was influenced by the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Fyodor Dostoevski, particularly the concept of self-overcoming. Penton also authored nonfiction works that examined Australia’s national identity. He passed away from cancer on August 24, 1951, leaving behind a legacy in both journalism and literature.
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Brian Penton
Fiction Writer
- Born: August 4, 1904
- Birthplace: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Died: August 24, 1951
- Place of death: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Brian Penton was born on August 4, 1904, in Brisbane, Australia, the son of Reginald and Sarah Bennett Penton, both emigres from England. The family was not prosperous, and Penton dropped out of high school. In 1920 he began working on the Brisbane Courier. At this time he met Ray Lindsay, son of artist Norman Lindsay. In 1924 he earned a diploma in journalism from the University of Queensland and married Olga Moss.
He journeyed to England in 1925 and, unable to secure employment, he returned to Australia that same year. He became a political journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald. His writing drew praise and inspired his literary ambitions. He ghostwrote the autobiography of former Prime MinisterWilliam Morris Hughes and took a manuscript of that book, The Splendid Adventure, to England in 1928, along with the manuscript of a novel by Norman Lindsay, Redheap. The Splendid Adventure was published in 1929, while Redheap was published in 1930.
Penton worked for Fanfrolico Press, a fledgling publishing firm founded by Norman Lindsay’s son, Jack. Penton wrote for the press’s related periodical, the London Aphrodite, as well as the Sydney Bulletin and produced a translation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra that has since been lost. Throughout his life, Penton was influenced by Nietzsche’s philosophy, especially the life-affirming idea of “self-overcoming,” or the evolution of the self by constant creation of a new self to replace the one in existence. In April, 1929, Penton became manager of the press, and three months later his most well- known theoretical essay, “Note on the Form of the Novel,” was published in the London Aphrodite. Using ideas from Nietzsche and Fyodor Dostoevski, the article presented Penton’s concept of the novel as an organically developing form.
In 1933, Penton returned to Sydney to work on the Daily Telegraph, and a year later he introduced a column called “The Sydney Spy.” In this gossip column, he struggled against censorship by shocking the conservative reader with a new perspective on Australian life. That year he also published his first novel, Landtakers (1934). Both endeavors rethink the role of narrative voice as well as the history of the continent. Landtakers chronicles the story of Derek Cabell, an emigrant from England in the 1840’s who advances from land worker to land owner. In 1936, he published a sequel, Inheritors, which examined Cabell as a landowner through his three children. The two novels were to be part of a trilogy, but the final book was never completed. Norman Lindsay praised the power of the first novel, but was cool toward the second as it dealt more with the characters’ personalities than with the Australian nation.
Penton turned his attention to nonfiction and wrote two books on the growth of Australia as a country: Think—or Be Damned (1941) and Advance Australia—Where? (1943). Both books question the evolution of Australian as a national identity. Penton served as editor of the The Daily Telegraph for ten years beginning in 1941. His tenure is considered a watershed period in Australian journalism. Penton described his dedication to his Telegraph job in a pamphlet entitled Guide for Cadets on Joining the Staff of Consolidated Press (1948). Penton died of cancer on August 24, 1951. Norman Lindsay’s obituary of his longtime acquaintance appeared in the newspaper the next day.