Henry Handel Richardson
Henry Handel Richardson, the pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson, was an Australian novelist born on January 3, 1870, in Melbourne. She is recognized for her significant contributions to early 20th-century literature, particularly through her exploration of realism and female emancipation. Richardson's early life was marked by trauma, including her father's financial ruin and subsequent death, experiences that heavily influenced her writing. After pursuing music and studying to become a concert pianist, she transitioned to literature, supported by her husband, J. G. Robertson.
Her notable works include "Maurice Guest," which tells the story of a struggling musician, and "The Getting of Wisdom," reflecting her own school experiences. However, she gained widespread acclaim for "The Fortunes of Richard Mahony," a trilogy that details the life and disillusionment of an Australian man in pursuit of success. Richardson's novels are celebrated for their in-depth character development and vivid depictions of Australian life, interwoven with her admiration for European culture. She passed away on March 20, 1946, in Sussex, leaving behind a legacy that continues to resonate in Australian literature.
Subject Terms
Henry Handel Richardson
Australian novelist
- Born: January 3, 1870
- Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Died: March 20, 1946
- Place of death: Fairlight, Sussex, England
Biography
When Sinclair Lewis said in 1941 that The Fortunes of Richard Mahony was “a truly major work of fiction of the twentieth century,” he was giving belated recognition to one of the most neglected novelists of modern times. Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson (also known as Henrietta Richardson), born in Melbourne, Australia, on January 3, 1870. When Richardson was four, her father, a successful doctor and investor, lost most of his money and fell gravely ill; he died five years later. These events, which traumatized the young Richardson, would later supply material for her novels. {$S[A]Robertson, Ethel Florence Lindesay;Richardson, Henry Handel}
After her education in Melbourne, she went to Germany, where she studied to become a concert pianist. In 1895 she married J. G. Robertson, who in 1903 became professor of German literature at the University of London; Robertson’s intellectual and moral support helped Richardson to overcome the difficulties inevitably besetting a female novelist in the late nineteenth century. Turning from music to literature, she published at widely separated intervals the novels that have caused her to be hailed since her death as among the most distinguished of Australian novelists.
An uncompromising realist, she made the facts of her family the facts of her fiction. Her first novel, Maurice Guest, is the story of a musician who suffers ostracism for living like a genius when he was not one; this is probably the most imaginative of her books. The Getting of Wisdom partly reflects the writer’s schooldays and the experiences that may cause a sensitive young girl to become a writer. Then came the novels that make up The Fortunes of Richard Mahony:Australia Felix, The Way Home, and Ultima Thule. The trilogy traces the career of a man who goes to Australia to find success, fails, and returns home to renew his former position. Rejected in his earlier associations and surroundings, he disintegrates spiritually and dies; the work is based on the life of the writer’s father. Critical recognition and some measure of popular success came with the last novel of the series.
In 1934 Richardson published The End of a Childhood, a sequel to her second novel. Her final work of fiction was The Young Cosima, a biographical novel dealing with twelve years in the life of the daughter of Franz Liszt. She died at her home in Sussex on March 20, 1946. Her unfinished autobiography, Myself When Young, appeared posthumously. Her novels are notable for their combination of the nineteenth century emphasis on realism and individual development with the new subject matter of female emancipation; her works have also been praised for their depictions of Australia, which—despite the author’s admiration for European (especially German) culture—remained at the heart of Richardson’s thematic concerns.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Maurice Guest, 1908
The Getting of Wisdom, 1910
Australia Felix, 1917
The Way Home, 1925
Ultima Thule, 1929
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, 1930 (trilogy consisting of Australia Felix, The Way Home, and Ultima Thule)
The Young Cosima, 1939
Nonfiction:
Myself When Young, 1948
Henry Handel Richardson: The Letters, 2000
Short Fiction:
The End of a Childhood, and Other Stories, 1934
Adventures of Cuffy Mahony and Other Stories, 1979
Bibliography
Ackland, Michael. Henry Handel Richardson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. An up-to-date biography.
Clark, Axel. Henry Handel Richardson: Fiction in the Making. Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia: Simon & Schuster Australia, 1990. A literary biography.
Nichols, J. R. Art and Irony: The Tragic Vision of Henry Handel Richardson. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. Richardson’s stylistic and thematic focuses are highlighted.
Pratt, Catherine. Resisting Fiction: The Novels of Henry Handel Richardson. St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 2000. A full-length study of Richardson’s entire body of work.
Wilde, William H., Joy Hooton, and Barry Andrews, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Richardson’s importance to Australian literature is profiled.