Doing Life: A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley

by Brian Dibble

Although she started writing early in life, it was not until her fifties that Elizabeth Jolley received the recognition her talent deserved. She won The Age Book of the Year Award on three occasions as well as the Miles Franklin Award. She has won the Western Australian Premier's Prize for both fiction and non-fiction. The array of wild characters in her fiction - misfits and those on the edge of society - can also be found in her remarkable life. Brian Dibble was given complete access to the writer's private papers and has spent more than a decade travelling the world to write this lyrical and readable biography.

Genres: Biography, Australia, Writing

334 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting cover photo, isn’t it? I can’t decide if Elizabeth Jolley has been caught fending off intrusion with determined irritation, or if there’s a hint of a smile there. Or even if the photo was staged or impromptu. The image certainly captures the enigma that she was…

(Monica) Elizabeth Jolley (neé Knight, neé Fielding) AO (1923-2007) was born in England and came to Australia in the 1950s, to become in time one of Australia’s best-loved writers. Her first novel was published in 1980 when she was 53, and from then on new novels came thick and fast, every year or every other year until 2001. Fifteen altogether, along with short stories, plays and works of non-fiction too. She was amazingly prolific.

Intrigued by an offline conversation about Jolley with Sue from Whispering Gums, I pulled Brian Dibble’s 2008 biography off the TBR and began reading.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/02/16/do...

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speaking as a reader: Absolutely fascinating - I like Elizabeth Jolley's writing, don't know why because I always end up feeling vaguely depressed afterwards - like an Australian version of Margaret Drabble - and because she validatated one of my secret weaknesses as a wannabe writer - that there is nothing really wrong with needing the dishes to be done before sitting down to write - something a serious writer would never say but EJ did! There is a real-life approach to her writing and her writing activiy, reflected in both seperately and across. The best way to read this is to read her fiction first, I did the reverse, and plan to re-read this once I've located copies of the two I have yet to own. This bio is as good as her stories, and enriches her novels. As a reviewer: well written, easy to read, flows, consistent - lots of reference to parts of her novels - some of which I skipped over because I needed to read them myself first, but I am aware this may not be the case for everyone. I'm still not sure if it is a brave biography, or one that has too much suggestion - the bravery is for recording things uncovered, the danger is in the suggestion of more than is actually said. She died Febrary 2007, this was written in 2009 - I wondered what she might have thought of it - parallel with the thought that biography cannot be limited by that - but because I have always admired her there is a little academically unacceptable concern for her feelings. The research notes are extensive and would be a valuable aid for other biographies or extended readings.

[Stefani Akins · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the prologue to the book, author Brian Dibble apologizes for possibly providing too many details from Jolley's life. While I cannot blame him for his biographical enthusiasm, the apology to the reader is well deserved, even if given for the wrong thing. A biography is successful when it brings its subject to life in the mind of the reader, and a vital part of this should be the relationships in the subject's life. We learn much of Jolley's parents and their unhappy marriage, facts that we are shown later dominate her writing to the point where it seems that her characters are really rather interchangeable. Oddly, less explanation is given to the true dynamics between her and husband Leonard Jolley. Having read Susan Swingler's "House of Fiction", I left with the impression that Leonard was a thoroughly narcissistic, arrogant and unlikable person, and since Dibble fails to explain the continuing fascination Jolley had with him, I feel no differently about Leonard now. What motivated not just one but two intelligent women to completely submit themselves to his whims? Who knows.

Jolley's children are fairly glossed over entirely, which is too bad because she seems to have had a close relationship with them until her death. So, we learn much about Elizabeth, the writer, in later life, but not much about Elizabeth, the person in her own home.

Throughout the text, the book is peppered with oddly placed quotes from various sources that relate neither to anything that has been written in previous paragraphs nor foreshadows anything that is to come. This is irritating and unhelpful, especially since often the quotes are bland and not particularly insightful.

The weakest point of this biography, however, is its attempt to provide the reader with insight into Jolley's entire literary body of work, not only providing extremely lengthy summations of her novels but also giving away the few plot twists that distinguish her stories from one another. When I read "Miss Peabody's Inheritance", I was rather taken with Jolley's narration which contained a lot of gentle humor. Afterwards, I read the short story collection "Woman in a Lampshade" and began to suspect that she recycled quite a few attributes of her work in subsequent stories. Since Brian Dibble spends so much time dissecting every single piece of fiction ever written by her, I feel quite satisfied that I shall never have to read another of Jolley's books again.

Finally, the epilogue is dedicated to Jolley's attitude about friendship. This could have been worked into the main body of the books as appropriate; done this way, it merely seems awkward.

This is a biography written for hardcore Jolley fans. All others may safely forget it exists.