早期澳大利亚文化的杂交性研究——《人生就是如此》探析

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Chapter 1 Introduction

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip led Britain’s First Fleet to a new continent located

in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. The fleet encountered a large group of hunting and

gathering Aborigines who lived a simple life style. Over the years, many new settlers

arrived from Britain, Germany, Holland, Ireland and other European countries, each

introducing a variety of cultural traits. This combination of traits ultimately led to the

formation of many unique and varied sub-cultures. One of those sub-cultures became

known as the bush culture, a blending of different people who all shared in common the

challenge of adapting to a very desolate and harsh environment, known as the

Australian bush. It is against this backdrop that the novel, Such Is Life, was written. Its

author, Joseph Furphy (1843-1912), published the book in 1903 under the pseudonym

Tom Collins.

The book initially experienced slow sales. In the nine years following 1903, for

example, there were only 1100 of 2000 copies sold. The initial unpopularity of the book

may be attributed to the following factors. First there are so many strange bush dialects,

mainly involving those spoken by Scottish, Irish, German and Chinese bushmen, that

people become easily irritated by the language of the book. Second, there are so many

allusions and citations from Western culture that people with only a simple knowledge

of Western culture cannot make heads or tails of it. Third, the structure of the book is so

loose1and the characters are so numerous and varied that the unscrupulous reader will

lose track of them easily. Indeed, all of these factors make a reading of the book very

tedious. They prove the predictions of A. G. Stephens2when he stated, “I do not think it

would find a quick sale, or an extensive sale. (The interest, though continuous, is never

very vivid; and the modern reader’s palate craves dishes highly spiced.) I should expect

for it a slow dropping sale, largely among men over forty—‘old hands’ who could grow

young again as they read. By-and-by, I think, it would establish itself as a standard book

of Australian reminiscences—but that would take time.” (Franklin, 1944: 62) It is true

_______________________

1The book is supposed to be taken randomly from some extracts of Tom Collins’s pocket diary.

In reality, if read carefully, it can be found to be well-organized.

2Alfred George Stephens (1865-1933) was editor of the Red Page (the literary section to which the

inside front cover was devoted) of the Sydney Bulletin from 1894 to 1906.

A Research on the Hybridity of Early Australian Culture—A Probe into Such Is Life

even today that many young Australians have never read this Australian classic.

§1.1 Positive Reviews of Such Is Life

Although Such Is Life did not find a quick sale at its first publication, it did arouse

reviews from all the major media within Australia, though only one from abroad, which

was the London Athenaeum. This was largely because of the glamour of the book itself,

largely because its publisher was The Bulletin, a nationalist magazine with “Australia

for the White Man” as its slogan. This magazine enjoyed wide popularity and high

social status at that nationalist period (1880-1914) and was called the “the bushman’s

bible.” So to get it published by The Bulletin was certainly something prestigious, and it

is no wonder that Such Is Life attracted a great many reviews.

The first review was made by the author, Joseph Furphy himself. Required by A. G.

Stephens to write a synopsis of the book, he actually wrote a review instead.

“Apart from the historical value of the book, as seizing and fixing pictures of Riverina life,

necessarily transitory, the portraiture deserves notice. Here the author is unconsciously at home.

Rarely is a character revealed by verbal description, each speaks for himself; and a clean-cut

individuality, consistent in its human inconsistency, is thrown on the page. Isocratic rather than

democratic in tone, these sketches present each individual-squatter or sundowner-as a document of

special interest, yet bearing the common seal.” (Barnes, 1969: 129-130)

“The qualities which have gained the book recognition were summed up by

Stephens in his original report on the manuscript: ‘It seems to me fitted to become an

Australian classic or semi-classic, since it embalms accurate representations of our

character and customs, life and scenery, which in such skilled and methodical forms,

occur in no other book I know.’” (Miller, 1940: 120) When Furphy asked for advice on

how to get his book published, he “described his work in a sentence that is often quoted:

I have just finished writing a full-sized novel: title, Such is Life; scene, Riverina and Northern

Vic; temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian.”3

__________________________________

3Tom Collins, Such is Life (North Ryde: Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1987) III. All the following

quotations of the book are taken from the same edition with the page number indicated in

parentheses.

Chapter 1 Introduction

“It is accordingly permeated with radical ideas of the time, in association with the

Australian point of view which was then being urged by the Sydney Bulletin as a

corrective of oversea attitudes and allegiance inconsistent with Australian

circumstances.” (Miller, 1940: 120)

There were many subsequent positive reviews of the book. The West Australian

“commended Such is Life as one of the most faithful portrayals of Australian life yet

included between the covers of a book. The Leader (Melbourne) said it was ‘an

admixture of philosophy, humour and keen observation of irresistible attractiveness.’

The West Australian Record, the Capricornian (Rockhampton, Q.), the Sydney Mail, the

Australasian (Melbourne), the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph (Sydney),

the Melbourne Herald, the Queenslander, the Worker (Sydney), the Tocsin (Melbourne),

as well as various up-country papers all were enthusiastic in their reception of this new

writer.” (Franklin, 1944: 101)

The Adelaide Register discovered “an Australian Fielding” and wrote of Such Is

Life:

“A long and important work by a new author who is probably destined to become famous.”

(Franklin, 1944: 101)

The Age (Melbourne) gave a glowing and extended review with extensive extracts,

and compared Furphy to the great Spanish writers who drew their characters from large

cities in Spain. Its review was as follows:

“And above all, you find yourself enveloped by the atmosphere of the country in which the

book was written while you are reading it, so that you can understand the local and climatic

influences under which such passages as the following were composed…. And the writer sees in this

virgin continent immeasurably higher possibilities of a future than the memories of any past since

history began … we are conscious of being in company with a thinker, as well as of a close observer

of human character; and a man whose sympathies are broad and comprehensive, and whose views of

men and things are thoroughly unconventional, and touched with the conviction that the worst of his

fellow-beings are not all evil, nor the best of them exempt from imperfection. He possesses the

faculty of humour, and a keen perception of natural beauty, combined with considerable descriptive

powers.” (Franklin, 1944: 101-102)

The London Athenaeum commented on Such Is Life, stating that it was:

A Research on the Hybridity of Early Australian Culture—A Probe into Such Is Life

“a really remarkable book and well worth the rather serious effort which is required to peruse it

from end to end.…We pay more notice than usual to Mr Collins’s book because we are inclined to

think that he is in many ways a typical Australian writer, whose riotous tendencies in thought have

been aggravated by the influence of the Sydney Bulletin…. [T]he book as it stands is purely

Australian and exceedingly interesting.” (Franklin: 104-105)

§1.2 Negative Reviews of Such Is Life

Nearly all literary works, no matter great or small, might provoke negative reviews.

Such Is Life is no exception. The Evening News (Sydney) dismissed it “as a book which

reminded the reviewer of Bret Harte by the lack of any of the literary qualities which

made the American so charming. The author’s literary methods were poor, his powers of

reproducing dialect phonetically, mediocre. Tom Collins’s device of representing

comminatory language by parentheses was ‘the ways of a circus clown, who reproduces

what are professionally known as ‘wheezes’ of remote antiquity.’” (Franklin, 1944: 102)

Steele Rudd’s Magazine condemned Furphy for showing off his erudition in the

book. Collins, as stated by Steele, “gives undeniable evidence of the possession of an

extensive vocabulary and a nice appreciation of both the use and value of words. His

style, if somewhat ornate, is clear, bold and expressive. Unfortunately, he has felt it his

duty to leave on every page of his work some record of his knowledge of other people’s

writings. As a consequence, the reader is speedily wearied with metaphorically taking

off his hat to old acquaintances….” (Franklin, 1944: 103)

§1.3 Choice of Hybridity as a Theoretical Framework for This Thesis

Such Is Life is really of high literary and historical status. It presents to us a

panorama picture of early Australian bush life which some have said, is supposed to be

the true Australian life at that time. Though Steele Rudd’s Magazine criticized Furphy

for leaving “on every page of his work some record of his knowledge of other people’s

writings,” I believe this is not a valid criticism of this classic work. Furphy’s records of

his knowledge of other people’s writings are reflections of the transplantation of

Western culture into this new continent. This culture played the role of mother culture

for the European settlers in the virgin land. On the other hand, there was something

“purely Australian” as the London Athenaeum mentioned in its criticism. This

Chapter 1 Introduction

something was the newly grown culture in the virgin continent —the bush culture

illustrated in the book. So in my opinion, this classic is a fine example of the

harmonious hybridization of elements of Western culture and bush culture. It foresees

the birth of a new culture—the Australian culture—and accordingly the birth of a new

country—the Australian Federation in 1901.4

This paper makes a further probe into this great Australian classic, Such Is Life, to

illustrate the blending of elements of Western culture and bush culture following

Western settlement in this southern continent. The model chosen to discuss this classic

is Homi K. Bhabha’s “cultural hybridity” theory. This model provides theoretical

guidance to illustrate the hybridization of early Australian culture, as shown by Such Is

Life. Before applying the “cultural hybridity” theory to Such Is Life, however, it is

important to understand that theory.

§1.4 An Overview on Hybridity and Its Application in This Thesis

“Hybridity” is a term used by Bhabha when describing the interaction between the

colonizing and colonized cultures. Elizabeth Laragy points out, “The term hybridity has

been most recently associated with Homi Bhabha. In his piece entitled ‘Cultural

Diversity and Cultural Differences,’ Bhabha stresses the interdependence of colonizer

and colonized. Bhabha argues that all cultural systems and statements are constructed in

what he calls the ‘Third Space of Enunciation.’” (Laragy, Elizabeth

http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/imperial/key-concepts/Hybridity.htm) In

the earlier colonial days, the colonized country or its culture is defined by the colonizer

through its language power authority over the colonized. Accordingly, there comes a

kind of polarity and binarism framing our notions of culture.

Bhabha later feels that there is some sort of “inter-space” or “Third Space” in

cultural interactions, which might give rise to a mutation or a hybrid. (Bhabha,

2004:53-56) So Bhabha believes that “[h]ybridity is the sign of the productivity of

colonial power, its shifting forces and fixities; it is the name for the strategic reversal of

the process of domination through disavowal (that is, the production of discriminatory

________________________

4The manuscript of the book was completed in 1897.

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Chapter1Introduction1Chapter1IntroductionIn1788,CaptainArthurPhillipledBritain’sFirstFleettoanewcontinentlocatedintheSouthwesternPacificOcean.ThefleetencounteredalargegroupofhuntingandgatheringAborigineswholivedasimplelifestyle.Overtheyears,manynewsettlersarrivedfromBritain,Germany,Holland,Irelandan...

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