Hazzard and Harrower: The letters

by Brigitta Olubas, Susan Wyndham (editor)

Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower met in person for the first time in London in 1972, six years after they began a correspondence that would span four decades. They exchanged letters, cards and telegrams, and made occasional phone calls between Harrower’s home in Sydney and Hazzard’s apartments in New York, Naples and Capri. The two women wrote to each other of their daily lives, of impediments to writing, their reading, politics and world affairs, and in Hazzard’s case, her travels. And they wrote about Hazzard’s mother, for whose care Harrower took increasing — and increasingly reluctant — responsibility from the early 1970s (precisely the period when she herself virtually stopped writing).
Edited by Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s official biographer, and Susan Wyndham, who interviewed both Hazzard and Harrower, this is an extraordinary account of two literary luminaries, their complex relationship and their times.
‘Hazzard and Harrower is a book to keep close and return to often.’ — Michelle de Kretser
‘Vital, compelling, terrifying, revelatory — and a literary pleasure in its own right.’ — Anna Funder
‘Beautiful, wise and unflinching. Will we ever have a chance like this again to eavesdrop on two great writers as they talk books, people and the world for forty years?’ — David Marr
‘An engrossing portrayal of forty years of complicated friendship between two writers, only one of whom has the steel — or is it the ruthlessness? — to put her art before everything else.’ — Charlotte Wood
‘I read these letters with mounting excitement. There is a righteous delight in seeing female talent two great Australian writers finally treated with the care and rigour they deserve.’ — Diana Reid

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

384 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2024

Reviews

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hazzard and Harrower is a fascinating record of the fierce and fraught friendship between two late Australian literary geniuses. I read The Transit of Venus and The Watchtower for the first time only recently, and they are both masterpieces that stoke intense curiosity about their authors: in Hazzard’s case, because of the stunning elegance and sophistication of her prose; in Harrower’s, because of the unflinching eye she cast upon the violent misogyny of the country, several decades before her time. The publication of their correspondence satisfies that curiosity, and so much more. It’s reassuring to read how often these sensitive, intelligent thinkers despaired at their benighted political leaders and, to use what seems to be their shared favourite word, ‘ghastly’ world events - complaints that continue to resonate with our own strenuous times. They also deplore and occasionally participate in the pettiness of literary society, an inconsistency that only further endeared them to me. And aside from a rare lapse in forward-thinking here and there, the letters are replete with brilliant insights into deep questions of art and humanity, all the more inspiring because they are so casually jotted. Ultimately, though, the book is a poignant reflection on the elusive joys of friendship itself, and how much we need them to weather the ups and downs of life.

[Jan Mawdesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower, although two Australian born literary luminaries, have often been underappreciated and ignored by many of their contemporaries and readers.
In “Hazzard and Harrower The Letters”, Brigitta Olubas Professor of English at the University of New South Wales and the official biographer of Hazzard, in conjunction with celebrated journalist, Susan Wyndham, has organised and edited Hazzard’s and Harrower’s hundreds of letters, postcards and memos during the 40 years of their correspondence (around 400,000 words) into an extraordinary account of their complex relationship.
Harrower from her home in Sydney and Hazzard from apartments in New York, Naples and Capri, exchanged opinions and judgements; their long-standing, long-distance friendship developing through their correspondence of over four decades. The letters, not only provide incredible insight into the lives of these talented writers and literary world around them, but also demonstrate how they provided encouragement and personal and practical support to each other.
Their correspondence provides the readers with their liberal progressive views on domestic and world politics; events covered include Watergate, the dismissal of the Whitlam government, opening of the Sydney Opera House, civil unrest in the United States, Darwin cyclone and Sydney Olympics.
To aid the readers, the authors have grouped the letters into three periods with a brief synopsis of events, and they have also provided comprehensive notes and an excellent index. To achieve maximum enjoyment from this book, some readers may need to refresh their knowledge of events and identities, to which the women refer in their correspondence.
Reviewed by Nan van Dissel for Bluewolf Reviews.

[Jane Messer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For readers familiar and admiring of Elizabeth Harrower and/or Shirley Hazzard's creative works and lives, this is a remarkable resource - their letters, shared over many years. It's interesting to see the friendship grow, despite the two of them not meeting for another six years from the start of their correspondence. The letters provide a wonderful sense of the daily lives of these writers, one in Australia, Sydney, the other based in New York but living also in Naples and Capri; shared friendships; Harrower's friendship and care of Harrower's mother Kit Hazzard, their observation and commentaries on politics and world events over 40 years of writing.

Hazzard writes for instance that she and her husband Francis (Steegmuller) are reading Byron's epic poem, Don Juan, 'for about an hour each day, with breakfast'. Oh, what a life!

I was a bit taken aback by Hazzard's very brief, even casual response to Harrower's nothing short of amazing - excoriating is not too strong a word - novel, The Watch Tower. At this stage they didn't know each very well, and had just begun their correspondence. But still, it struck me that Shirley Hazzard hadn't expended much effort in her commentary on the book, saying she liked it for its 'powerful theme' (she doesn't say what that theme is) and 'the atmosphere of the city'.

Expertly edited by Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham.

[Lisa]

I read the Introduction to this, and was a bit peeved to find that Hazzard (who I admire) was presented as taking advantage of Harrower. This was because Harrower took care of Hazzard's 'difficult' mother in Australia leaving Hazzard free in the US to pursue her writing career while Harrower's career after a stellar beginning, did not progress until much later in her life.
No doubt Hazzard's flaws will be revealed in more detail in Shirley Hazzard, a Writing Life also by Brigitta Olubas and which I have on the TBR. But that's not why I stopped reading. All writers have their flaws and it doesn't change my view of their writing to know about them.
But I'm not keen on reading books of collected letters in general, and these intimate letters were not written for wider consumption in the way that 19th century letters often were. It felt intrusive to be reading this private correspondence, and while this book is probably of great value to scholars, as an ordinary reader, I wasn't enjoying it.

[Sally O'wheel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. I loved it. It makes me spin out to a whole lot of other reading. I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of Elizabeth Harrower, but now I am keen to read her work. I had read and loved, Transit of Venus, but not The Great Fire. My mother was a big fan and I have both those books of hers in my bookshelf. It was wonderful to be in a world of Kylie Tennant, Christina Stead, Patrick White, Sydney Nolan. Lots of well known Australian writers appeared in these letters. Wonderful too to experience again the victory of Whitlam, the despair of the dismissal and all those years. Thank you to Brigitta Olubas for collecting and arranging these wonderful letters.

[Robyn Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like epistolary books, but needed to know theses subjects better to appreciate the book more.

[Ingrid Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

How fortunate we are that these letters have been preserved and now curated in this format. I found this book fascinating not only because of the incredible insight the letters afford us into the lives of the writers - but also because of the way their careers and social lives intersected with other significant political and artistic figures, as well as historical events and social change.
The letter writing craft on its own is beautiful, and the commitment to the friendship long term is remarkable - they offer each other encouragement and practical support both personally and professionally. I loved thinking about the discipline of sitting down at a typewriter to invest in corresponding, sending clippings, offering feedback and insight, and the tenderness and care established as they age and life evolves.
What a great privilege to read correspondence between two amazing women spanning so many decades. You'll enjoy this book if you've read work by these talented writers, have a connection to Sydney, NY or Italy in the 20thC, love letter writing craft, and want to be immersed in their longstanding, long distance, literary camaraderie.