The Shelf Life of Zora Cross

by Cathy Perkins

Australian poet and journalist Zora Cross caused a sensation in 1917 with her book Songs of Love and Life. Here was a young woman, who looked like a Sunday school teacher, celebrating sexual passion in a provocative series of sonnets. She was hailed as a genius, and many expected her to endure as a household name alongside Shakespeare and Rossetti. While Cross’s fame didn’t last, she kept writing through financial hardship, personal tragedies and two world wars, producing a remarkable body of work. Her verse, prose and correspondence with the likes of Ethel Turner, George Robertson (of Angus & Robertson) and Mary Gilmore place Zora Cross among the key personalities of Australia’s literary world in the early twentieth century. The Shelf Life of Zora Cross draws on these rich sources to reveal the life of a neglected writer and intriguing person.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2024

Reviews

[Nathan Hobby]

The playful title catches the tone, as Perkins narrates the early literary celebrity and then the long struggle of an exuberant, uncontainable writer who didn't always make the best decisions.

It is a biographical quest of sorts, but a restrained and wise one - the biographer's presence is never egotistical but draws attention to the archival remains of Cross and the process of resurrecting a largely forgotten figure.

There's a wry humour and quiet intelligence in the story-telling. Perkins presents the bizarre, disturbing, and intriguing without too much commentary - Zora's mother's energetic corroboree re-enactments into her eighties, Zora's decades-long obsession with ancient Rome.

Perkins uses an innovative structure, each chapter the story of a relationship & a particular archive of letters - Ethel Turner, Norman Lindsay etc. It makes the narrative circle around but it works well, allowing the focus on a smaller cast of characters for each chapter.

In short, The Shelf Life of Zora Cross is a superb book, succinct and beautifully crafted, the rare biography which refreshes the reader rather than exhausts.

[Perry Middlemiss]

Early in the 20th Century Zora Cross was one of the brightest stars on the Australian literary landscape. Her extraordinary poetry collection "Songs of Love and Life" broke new ground and was hugely popular. Yet, within 15 years, her star had faded, her output diminished and she is now largely forgotten.

Cathy Perkins takes up Cross's case in this biography and attempts to explain her rise and fall from her early dizzying heights to late-life obscurity. Rather than following the standard straight timeline of a subject's life, Perkins slowly builds a complete picture of the writer via her interactions with other major literary names of her era, including George Robertson, Mary Gilmore, Norman Lindsay and David McKee Wright, among others. It's a technique that might have failed completely but Perkins keeps Cross front-and-centre in her book and you come away with a description of the Australian literary and publishing industry as well as a detailed view of Cross's genius.

[Sharon Taylor]

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of Zora Cross before. Such a shame that her work seems to have stayed in its time. The author has done a great job of reconstructing Zora’s life and work from the various records. I think Zora was probably ahead of her time - her perseverance and love of writing were very evident

[Janine]

This is a very skillfully written biography, maintaining its chronological trajectory while using various friends and colleagues as a prism through which to explore Zora Cross's personality and writing.  Cathy Perkins, the author,  who is the editor of SL magazine and other publications at the State Library of NSW inserts herself several times into the narrative, in her research and  advocacy for Zora Cross.  As well as a biography, the book explores the literary industry and the whole issue of literary presence after death. Perkins' decision to use relationships as an organizing device emphasizes the interconnections between writers and publishers, something that is often invisible to the reader.

She captures well the breadth of Cross' writing, and quotes generously from her unpublished works, without necessarily championing its sometimes rather dubious quality, leaving it instead up to the reader to decide.  She portrays Cross as a fully rounded character: unconventional mother and partner, hard-working, flirtatious, sometimes needy, mother, grandmother and community member. But most importantly, as a prolific and life-long writer, even if she has been -until this biography- completely unknown today.

[Natasha (jouljet)]

Zora Cross wrote and published a book of poetry in 1917, and was lauded by George Robertson (of Angus and Robertson) as the 'poetess of the ages'. She wrote many other books - poetry and novels - and was a regular contributor to journals and newspapers during her time; but it seems her legacy was much forgotten about.

Could this be because Zora wrote about love, desire, sensual and sexual feelings, and also later about anti-war sentiment and loss, that the Australian literary world chose to forget her? Perhaps an outspoken, up-front, woman talking about such things was too much for the time! This biography by State Library staffer and writer, having stumbled upon mention of Zora, and then researched her work and life, brings the poet and her work to life.

Not written chronically, but grouped by Zora's connections to people - through letters and articles, each person connected to Zora, and several who eventually fell out with her, bring her lufe and losses, her sucesses and toils, new life.

Zora's most noted first published book rose to fame, with soliders taking it with them to war as a companion, and staff at Angus and Robertson choosing it one Christmas as the book for their gift. Sonnets were memorized in schools. Each chapter here in this memoir starts with a snippet. Zora's words are delightful.

It's also so interesting to read 'The Magic Pudding' author and illustrator Norman Lindsay's objections to the request to illustrate Zora's book, based on opinions about women's inabilities to think about love and sensuality, whilst surrounding himself with nude paintings in his home. Clearly a man threatened by the potential success of a woman during his time! Perkins brings this connection and rejection humour and damning researched direct quotes.

Zora's work for the 'Mirror', interviewing and featuring 38 women writers and poets of the time, was amazing and my favourite chapter, and seems like the original version of today's Stella List - promoting women writers to a national platform. Seeing the discrepancy between men and women promoted, Zora set about championing her peers in a widely read publication. What an incredible legacy, even if the times would not call this feminism.

This is an endearing memoir of a(nother) woman in Australian history forgotten, and a snapshot of life in Sydney in the 1920s and between the World Wars, like nothing I have come across before. Zora, her work, and her friends and family come to life here, adding to a rich knowledge of a lost Australian name of importance.

[Jeff Smith]

What a story.. poet, mother, journalist, writer, wife, gardener.. Zora was a trailblazer and a fighter in so many aspects of her life. Good friend to Ethel Turner, also knew Mary Gilmore and Henry Lawson, all giants of early Australian literature. She loved her garden and her beautiful house in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Wonderful story of her relationship with book publisher George Robertson and his faith in her poetry, especially her sensuous love sonnets. Despite times of great financial hardship and very sad personal tragedies she maintained her love of writing and family.