 First edition | |
| Author | Martin Boyd |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Leslie Wood |
| Language | English |
| Series | Langton Tetralogy |
| Publisher | Cresset Press, London |
Publication date | 1952 |
| Media type | Print Hardback & Paperback |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| Preceded by | Such Pleasure |
| Followed by | A Difficult Young Man |
The Cardboard Crown (1952) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the first in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises The Cardboard Crown, A Difficult Young Man , Outbreak of Love and When Blackbirds Sing). [1]
The novel follows the story of Alice Langton, as told by her grandson Guy de Teba Langton, who pieces the story together from her diaries and family gossip. Alice is trapped in a life where her happiness is a secondary consideration among the rest of the family, who make continual demands on her money. Alice moves constantly between her homes in Australia and Europe, always longing for the home she does not inhabit.
Geoffrey Hutton in The Argus noted that the author was writing a family saga of wealth and influence in Melbourne with a difference. "The prod-nosed social investigators may find some interesting sidelights here on the gilded life of the governing class in the 70's or the early affluence of East St Kilda before the parvenus flooded into Toorak. But Mr Boyd's only real interest is in the contrasting strains which appear in his oddly-mixed family and in the interaction between human frailty and unearned wealth.." [2]
Gillian Dooley, writing in 2004 after the book had been re-issued, stated: "Boyd's subject matter is no doubt the principal reason for his neglect. By any standards, his prose is strong and luminous and his novels are beautifully crafted and immensely readable. But the late twentieth century had little patience with the scandals and vicissitudes of Anglo-Australian aristocratic families, with no apparent connections with convicts, sealers or whalers, or the indigenous people. Boyd was admittedly something of a good old-fashioned snob." [3]
Text Publishing re-issued the novel in 2012 as part of its Text Classics series with an introduction by Brenda Niall. [4]
Marcus Andrew Hislop ClarkeFRSA was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life, about the convict system in Australia, and widely regarded as a classic of Australian literature. It has been adapted into many plays, films and a folk opera.
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Martin à Beckett Boyd was an Australian writer born into the à Beckett–Boyd family, a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia.
Maxwell Henley Harris AO, generally known as Max Harris, was an Australian poet, critic, columnist, commentator, publisher, and bookseller.
Kenneth Graham Ross is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist best known for writing the 1978 stage play Breaker Morant, that was based on the life of Australian soldier Harry "Breaker" Morant.
The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.
The Spare Room is a 2008 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, set over the course of three weeks while the narrator, Helen, cares for a friend dying of bowel cancer.
A Town Like Alice is a 1956 British drama film produced by Joseph Janni and starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch that is based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Nevil Shute. The film does not follow the whole novel, concluding at the end of part two and truncating or omitting much detail. It was partially filmed in Malaya and Australia.
Charles Henry Chomley was an Australian farmer, barrister, writer, and journalist. His non-fiction and fiction works alike reflected his strong interest and involvement in politics and law.
Summer at Mount Hope is a black comedy romantic novel, written by Australian author Rosalie Ham. Like Ham's debut novel The Dressmaker, it is also set in small rural community but in 1890s Australia. The novel centred on protagonist Phoeba Crupp and her struggle with money and male companionship.
A Difficult Young Man (1955) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the second in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" and it won the ALS Gold Medal in 1957.
Outbreak of Love (1957) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the third in the author's "Langton Tetralogy".
When Blackbirds Sing (1962) is the last novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is also the last in the author's "Langton Tetralogy".
Such Pleasure (1949) is a novel by the Australian writer Martin Boyd.
The Chantic Bird (1968) is the debut novel by Australian writer David Ireland.
The Lemon Farm (1935) is a novel by Australian author Martin Boyd.
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The Broad Arrow; Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a Lifer is an 1859 novel published by the English writer Caroline Woolmer Leakey under the pseudonym Oliné Keese. Set in Van Diemen's Land, it was one of the first novels to describe the Australian convict system and one of only two colonial novels to feature a female convict as its main character. It has been described as a precursor of the better-known For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke (1870–72), who used Leakey's book as a source for his story.
Margaret de Neville, also Margaret de Longvillers and domina Margareta de Nevill was an English landowner in Yorkshire and Lancashire during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Her inheritance helped to consolidate the power and influence of the House of Neville.
Nan Hutton was a feminist Australian journalist for several magazines, for three Melbourne metropolitan newspapers, and was a book editor for Australian publishers.