Acclaimed biographer Jacqueline Kent explores the left wing movement through the lens of women writers in her latest biography Inconvenient Women: Australian Radical Writers 1900 – 1970, tracking the lives and works of prominent authors and poets such as Mary Gilmore, Katherine Susannah Prichard, Kath Walker and Dorothy Hewitt among many others.
In her introduction to the book, Kent writes “what of the generation in between – the daughters of the suffragists, the mothers of these 1970s feminists? The bright, articulate and committed women who went through two world wars, endured a massive economic depression, saw the rise of fascism and communism and so many other changes… Women who were writers during this period are the subjects of this book.”
That final line is key to understanding what this book is truly about, as while the title and blurb might suggest a deep dive into the works of women writers of the time, it instead focuses on the politics of the period that shaped these women’s every-day lives. This is also reflected in the structure of the book, which is built around dates and ideas taking on a more chronological approach, rather than having the chapters named and defined by the individual writers themselves.
I was a bit taken aback that a book written by a woman about women writers, opened with a quote from a man and not from one of the many writers featured, or even from a feminist of a different time. This male gaze remains prominent throughout the book; the women are frequently quoted as being described by their male acquaintances as “difficult”, “hard” or “bitter” or by the sense that they did not know what to make of these women.
Perhaps this is largely a result of the lack of recorded information we have about these women, and what other women thought of them. Or, perhaps it was deliberately done to showcase what these women were up against in terms of facing off against the dominant powers of the time. Nevertheless, it reinforces a certain narrative about the women showcased and the way they were viewed by their contemporaries.
I’ll admit that I wanted to know more about the women’s writing and how it was directly defined by the events being detailed in each chapter. While there are some moments that do indeed directly mention the influence of specific events on particular written works, these examples are few and far between.
The chapters also seemed choppy at times. Jumping between various figures and historical events of note so that it often felt that the focus was shifting away from the people and more towards history itself.
There is a prominent focus on left-leaning writers and those who also participated in political action of some sort. Many were not recognised during their time and may not be particularly recognised now. In that sense, Inconvenient Women offers a solid insight into a generation of women writers who may otherwise be unknown and whose work readers might want to follow up with. It offers insight into why they remain so sparsely represented in the collective literary knowledge.
There is a great deal of interesting history here, and the women mentioned (even those who only warrant a paragraph) build towards a tremendous body of women’s writing that is rarely discussed in classical Australian literature. However, if you’re looking for a literary focus that delves into the written works of the writers in question, this book will not hold answers for you. Rather, it provides context to the time in which they were writing and the interactions they had (if any) with each other.
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Jacqueline Kent’s Inconvenient Women is out now through UNSW Press. Grab yourself a copy from your local bookstore HERE.
Header Image supplied by UNSW Press.
