Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay (1879-1969) was an influential Australian artist, writer, and illustrator, renowned for his diverse contributions to literature and visual arts. Born in Creswick, Victoria, he initially pursued a career in writing, collaborating on publications before establishing himself as a novelist and children's author. His notable works include *The Magic Pudding*, a whimsical story featuring a talking pudding, and *Saturdee*, which reflects Lindsay's unique satirical style. Influenced by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, Lindsay often explored themes of morality, human motivation, and the absurdity of existence in his narratives.
Despite his significant literary achievements, Lindsay is also well-known as a controversial painter of female nudes, which has led to a complex legacy. He mentored several emerging writers, including his own sons, and co-founded Endeavour Press, contributing to the Australian literary scene. While his artistic and literary prowess was sometimes overshadowed by his visual art, his work remains a staple of Australian classic literature. Lindsay's journey and creative output reflect both his individual perspective and broader cultural themes, inviting diverse interpretations and discussions about morality and artistic expression.
Subject Terms
Norman Lindsay
Australian novelist, artist, and cofounder of Endeavour Press.
- Born: February 23, 1879
- Birthplace: Creswick, Victoria, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: November 21, 1969
- Place of death:Springwood, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was born on February 22, 1879, in Creswick, Victoria, New South Wales, Australia. He was the son of Bob Lindsay, the local physician, and Jane Williams Lindsay, whose father was a missionary to Fiji. Although Lindsay eschewed his maternal grandfather’s religion, Lindsay credited him with instilling a dogged persistence in his character.
After attending local schools, Lindsay left Creswick at age sixteen when his brother Lionel hired him to ghostwrite contributions to a weekly Melbourne publication, The Hawklet. In Melbourne, and later in Sydney, Lindsay also worked as a painter and illustrator, meeting artists and students who would later figure in his novels A Curate in Bohemia and Rooms and Houses. On May 23, 1900, Lindsay married Kate Parkinson, with whom he had three sons before their divorce twenty years later; all of the sons would become writers like their father. In 1920, Lindsay married Rose Soady, one of his artistic models, and the couple had two daughters.
In Melbourne, Lindsay read an early translation of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, whom he came to admire fervently. The controversial German philosopher strongly influenced Lindsay’s writings, leading his critics to call Lindsay an “immoralist” and making him the target of what he termed “mob” hostility.
Many of Lindsay’s tales reflect a sardonic view of human motivation. For example, unlike most juvenile fantasy authors, he believed that food—not fairies or loveable monsters—could best draw the attention of young readers. In the widely acclaimed The Magic Pudding, he made food itself the main character—a pudding named Albert, who walks and talks and wants to be eaten! In a similar vein, The Cautious Amorist—about three men shipwrecked with a young woman—satirizes sentimental notions of feminine mystery and romantic attraction. On the other side, Peter Gimble in Lindsay’s Saturdee is a kind of Nietzschean hero, abundantly alive and inclined to take what he wants without regard for others’ feelings.
A major theme in Lindsay’s work is his characters’ self-deluded attempts to live up to some narrow moral code or other, revealing the lack of any true morality beneath the common striving. Beneath his own satirical glee, this troubled him; as he remarked concerning his personal manifesto, Creative Effort, “One had… to derive a stable principle of continuity underlying the bedlamite foolery of existence… to justify an act of faith in the continuity of life.”
Lindsay died November 21, 1969. Because he was widely known as a pen-and-ink artist and a controversial painter of female nudes, his literary accomplishments have been somewhat eclipsed. In fact, his novels Redheap and Saturdee and his children’s story The Magic Pudding are considered Australian classics. In addition, he mentored several younger writers—including his son Jack—who became prominent Australian literary figures. Lindsay also cofounded Endeavour Press, an important venue for these and other Australian writers.
Author Works
Children's Literature:
The Magic Pudding, 1918
The Flyaway Highway, 1936
Long Fiction:
A Curate in Bohemia, 1913
Creative Effort, 1920
Hyperborea, 1928
Madam Life's Lovers, 1929
Redheap, 1930
The Cautious Amorist, 1932
Saturdee, 1932
Miracles by Arrangement, 1932
Pan in the Parlour, 1933
Age of Consent, 1935
Cousin from Fiji, 1947
Halfway to Anywhere, 1947
Dust or Polish, 1950
Rooms and Houses, 1968
Nonfiction:
The Pen Drawings of Norman Lindsay, 1918
Creative Effort: An Essay in Affirmation, 1924
Hyperborea: Two Fantastic Travel Essays, 1928
Bohemians of the Bulletin, 1965
My Mask, For What Little I Know of the Man Behind It: An Autobiography, 1970
Bibliography
Bloomfield, Lin. Norman Lindsay: Impulse to Draw. Bay Books, 1984. Pencil drawings from Lindsay.
Hetherington, John. Norman Lindsay: The Embattled Olympian. Oxford UP, 1973. A detailed biography by a personal friend of Lindsay’s.
Jeanette Hoorn, "Olympian Bodies and Cinematic Spectacle in the Art of Norman Lindsay." Art & Australia, vol. 38, no. 1, 2000, pp. 118–27. Explores the role of neoclassicism and references to sexuality, novels, and silent films in etchings and drawings by Norman Lindsay.
Wingrove. Keith, editor. Norman Lindsay on Art, Life and Literature. U of Queensland P, 1990. A selection of Norman Lindsay's writings illustrated with his pen drawings.