Hal Porter

Harold Edward "Hal" Porter AM (16 February 1911 – 29 September 1984) was an Australian novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer.

Hal Porter
Born
Harold Edward Porter

(1911-02-16)16 February 1911
Albert Park, Victoria, Australia
Died29 September 1984(1984-09-29) (aged 73)
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • playwright
  • poet
  • short story writer

Biography

Porter was born in Albert Park, Victoria,[1] grew up in Bairnsdale, and worked as a journalist, teacher and librarian.[2] A car accident just before the outbreak of World War II prevented him from serving in the armed forces. His first stories were published in 1942 and by the 1960s he was writing full-time. His 1963 memoir, The Watcher on the Cast Iron Balcony, is regarded as an Australian masterpiece.

His other works were less successful. The literary critic Laurie Clancy said: "Porter's novels are, with one exception, less successful than his stories, not least because his scorn for most of his characters becomes wearying over the length of a novel." The exception, Clancy thought, was The Tilted Cross, a historical novel set in Hobart in the 1840s.[3]

On 24 July 1983 he was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver in Ballarat and received brain damage.[4] He died on 29 September 1984.

Honours

In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours Porter was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to literature.[5] The life and work of Porter has also been honoured since 2006 through the annual Hal Porter Short Story Competition, auspiced by the East Gippsland Art Gallery, in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia.[6]

Book

In 1993, Mary Lord, Hal Porter's long-time friend and fellow-writer, published a controversial biography of Porter, under the title Hal Porter: Man of Many Parts.

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

  • A Bachelor's Children (1962)
  • Short Stories (1942)
  • The Cats of Venice (1965)
  • The Actors: An image of the new Japan (1968)
  • Mr. Butterfry and Other Tales of New Japan (1970)
  • Selected Stories (1971)
  • Fredo Fuss Love Life (1974)
  • The Portable Hal Porter (1978)
  • The Clairvoyant Goat (1981)

Poetry

  • The Hexagon (1956)
  • Elijah's Ravens (1968)
  • In an Australian Graveyard (1974)

Memoirs

  • The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony (1963)
  • The Paper Chase (1966)
  • Criss-Cross (1973)
  • The Extra (1975)
  • Bairnsdale: Portrait of an Australian country town (1977)

Drama

References

Craven, Peter. "Porter: friend and betrayer," The Australian, 15–16 January 1994, Review 3.

Mary Lord: Hal Porter: Man of Many Parts (Random House, Sydney, 1993)

Noel Rowe: '"No one but I will know": Hal Porter's Honesty', in Australian Humanities Review, Issue 41, February 2007

  1. Hal Porter Britannica Online Accessed: 21 October 2007
  2. Porter, Hal (AustLit) Accessed: 14 February 2007.
  3. Laurie Clancy, A Reader's Guide to Australian Fiction, Oxford, Melbourne, 1992, p. 186.
  4. Barry Oakley, Minitudes: Diaries 1974-1997 [25 July 1983], p. 155
  5. "Harold Edward (Hal) Porter". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 14 June 2019.


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