Dymphna Cusack
Ellen Dymphna Cusack (1902-1981) was a significant Australian writer and social commentator, whose literary career spanned several decades from the 1950s to the 1990s. Born in New South Wales to a sheep farmer, she received her education from an Ursuline convent and Sydney University. Cusack was known for her fervent advocacy for women's rights and her critical exploration of social issues, often employing satire to address topics such as political inequities, the status of Aborigines, and the impact of war on society. Her most notable work, "Come in Spinner," co-authored with Florence James, received acclaim for its satirical portrayal of Sydney during World War II and became a bestseller.
Throughout her career, Cusack produced an array of works, including novels, radio plays, and political commentaries, and her writings have been translated into over thirty languages. She was a founding member of the Australian Society of Authors and received numerous awards for her contributions to literature, including being named Woman of the Year in 1975. Despite facing personal challenges, including a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis later in life, Cusack continued to influence Australian literature and was posthumously recognized as a Member of the Order of Australia. Her legacy remains as a voice for social justice and a pioneer of feminist literature in Australia.
Dymphna Cusack
Australian novelist and screenwriter.
- Born: September 21, 1902
- Birthplace: Wyalong, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: October 19, 1981
- Place of death:Manly, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Ellen Dymphna Cusack was born September 21, 1902, in New South Wales, Australia, the daughter of a sheep farmer. She was educated at an Ursuline convent boarding school and at Sidney University. Cusack rose to prominence as a social commentator and an outspoken defender of female rights. She was also a renowned teacher at Sydney Girls’ High School and a feminist who explored the subtle oppression of women, satirizing the powers of government and society that created such oppression.
Cusack produced a variety of works, including political statements, radio and screenplays, and novels. She was not only a prolific writer, she was also a political one, critiquing popular culture and social issues. Her plays and novels were translated into more than thirty languages and her literary influence spanned from the 1950s to the 1990s. She was a voice crying out in the wilderness against political inequities (the status of Aborigines, the racism of British colonists, nuclear power development, women’s issues, middle-class hypocrisy, and the United States’ "occupation" of wartime Sidney), and her political views caused her much celebrity and censure.
Her classic novel Come in Spinner, written in collaboration with Florence James, not only garnered major awards, it became a best seller and her most representative work. The novel is a satirical expose of vice industries during the "Yankee" occupation of Sydney during World War II, caricaturing not only the American "occupiers" but the politicians who allowed the evils of occupation. Cusack’s other novels and radio plays have a similarly satiric and ironic edge. Cusack not only tackled political and social issues, she explored different writing styles, contrasting melodramatic with naturalistic elements, and realism with surrealism. Gender politics, social criticism, and personal ethics are topics that infused her prose with meaning and focus.
In 1962, Cusack married her longtime companion and friend Norman Freehill, who traveled and collaborated with her on several projects. In 1978, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and by 1980, she was entirely paralyzed. By this time she had received a multitude of awards: Woman of the Year for 1975 from the Union of Australian Women; runner-up for the Prior Memorial Prize in 1935 for her novel Jungfrau; winner of the coveted Daily Telegraph novel competition for Come in Spinner; and runner-up in the Playwrights’ Advisory Board Competition for her antinuclear bomb play Pacific Paradise (1955). Cusack was both a member and president of the Fellowship of Australian Writers and was granted a government literary pension in 1973 in honor of her service to literature and country. She died in 1981, the same year she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to Australian literature.
Author Works
Children's Literature:
Kanga-Bee and Kanga-Bo, 1945
Four Winds and a Family, 1947 (with Florence James)
Drama:
Safety First, 1927
Shallow Cups, 1934 (in Eight Plays by Australians)
Anniversary, 1935
Red Sky at Morning, 1942
Morning Sacrifice, 1943
Comets Soon Pass, 1943
Call Up Your Ghosts, 1945 (with Miles Franklin)
The Golden Girls, 1955
Pacific Paradise, 1963
Long Fiction:
Jungfrau, 1936
Pioneers on Parade, 1939 (with Miles Franklin)
Say No to Death, 1951
Come in Spinner, 1951 (with Florence James)
Southern Steel, 1953
The Sun in Exile, 1955
Heat Wave in Berlin, 1961
Picnic Races, 1962
Black Lightning, 1964
The Sun Is Not Enough, 1967
The Half-Burnt Tree, 1969
A Bough in Hell, 1971
Nonfiction (travel):
Chinese Women Speak, 1958
Holidays Among the Russians, 1964
Illyria Reborn, 1966
Bibliography
Freehill, Norman. Dymphna Cusack. Thomas Nelson, 1975. An early biography of Cusack.
Kirkby, Diane E. "'This Isn't a Novel. It Is a Life!': Dymphna Cusack and Caddie: A Sydney Barmaid." Australian Literary Studies, vol. 22, no. 4, 2006, p. 495. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.158838206&site=eds-live. Discusses Cusack's role in the publication of the controversial book Caddie: A Sydney Barmaid, an autobiography that shocked Australian society.
Meyering, Isobelle Barrett. "Cusack, Dymphna (1902 - 1981)." The Australian Women's Register, National Foundation for Australian Women, 16 Sept. 2009, www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4321b.htm. Accessed 20 June 2017. Provides a biographical overview on Cusack, as well as a bibliography, a list of related archival resources, and links to other relevant Australian women authors and other resources.
North, Marilla. "Cusack, Ellen Dymphna (Nell) (1902–1981)." Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 2007, adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cusack-ellen-dymphna-nell-12385/text22259. Accessed 20 Jun. 2017. Provides a fairly in-depth biography of Cusack along with a select bibliography.
North, Marilla. "Laying the Foundations of a Writer's Life: Dymphna Cusack (1902–81)." Hecate, vol. 39, no. 1–2, 2013, p. 33. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.403034735&site=eds-live. Examines the context in which Cusack developed her career as a writer as well as a social and political activist.
North, Marilla, ed. Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters: Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin. 2nd ed. Brandl & Schlesinger, 2016.