George Johnston: A Biography

by Garry Kinnane

The life of George Johnston, author of the best-selling My Brother Jack, was in many ways symbolic of Australian post-war cultural life. He was a complex character, dogged by feelings of mediocrity, betrayal and failure that he ultimately transformed though the writing of his brilliant trilogy. In this award-winning biography, Garry Kinnane examines the process by which Johnston selected people, places and events for this creative transformation. In doing so, he reveals the reality that lay behind the glamorous outer facade of the life of Johnston and his wife, the writer Charmian Clift.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Australia

Paperback

First published August 1, 1986

Reviews

[Chris Waterford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved "My Brother Jack" which I assumed to be based on the life of George Johnston. This biography sorts out what was true from what was not. I found it surprisingly engaging and it was interesting to see how Johnston turned his life into such a best seller.
8/10

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the Age Book of the Year in 1986, this biography is interesting in its own right but also because of the persisting view that (as Wikipedia suggests) it was the imminent publication of Johnston's Clean Straw for Nothing that prompted his wife Charmian Clift (1923-1969) to suicide in 1969.  It is said that this is because the characterisation of Cressida Morley in the novel exposes Clift's infidelities during the couple's sojourn on the Greek island of Hydra where they lived from 1954 to 1964.  A posthumously published essay indicates that Clift was troubled by it, but Johnston in his one public comment a couple of months after her death said that 'Cressida was fictional'.  The fact that Cressida the character in the novel is not a writer as Clift was, is also taken by some as an indication that Johnston was diminishing her as a writer and his collaborator.  Whatever about that, Garry Kinnane makes it clear that he rejects the accusation:

It is the view of many of their friends, and many who have simply read the published novel, that Johnston was in Clean Straw for Nothing undertaking a callous exposition of Clift's behaviour on Hydra, either out of revenge or out of a selfish desire to reveal all in the cause of truth, or worse, to create a sensational novel. (p.273)

Kinnane is emphatic that this was not the case.  Indeed, though he writes that she came to believe some of these things, Clift had not even read the novel.  After his return to Australia in 1964 to the acclaim from My Brother Jack, Johnston was working on the sequel while he was in hospital receiving treatment for TB, and she thought, quite correctly, that he was writing about those last three traumatic years on Hydra when, exacerbated by excessive drinking, her flagrant affairs were a source of constant conflict between them.  But because she refused to read the drafts, or act as a sounding board as she had for his other writing, she did not know that his treatment of this material was generous towards her and that the book was about his own failures. (Or, also, as CS Boag says in his review at Goodreads, that it's a beautiful love story.)

From Johnston's preparatory notes for the Clean Straw for Nothing, Kinnane surmises that it links historical large scale suffering with the private experience of it, illuminating Meredith's fight against despair.

Is it true that Johnston was using the novel to malign her? My answer is an emphatic 'No'.  There can be no doubt that if he had chosen to give a full account of her affairs and the consequences, the picture could have been one of squalid drunkenness, public love-making, violent quarrels, beatings, all of which are still the subject of gossip among people who were on Hydra in those days. (p.273).

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/06/30/g...

[Peter Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Brother Jack is a true modern Australian classic and this is the biography of its author,George Johnson and very good it is too.Fame seems to disappear quickly but he was a best selling author 50 years ago.This biography is straight forward,complete and well written with short judgements of his work as he developed his art.He had an interesting life too in WW II,in London and then the Greek islands especially Hydra.He died too young as drink and smoking took their toll ( he died of TB),as did his attractive wife and fellow writer,Charmian Clift who took her own life as they found it difficult to continue living together.A sad tale but a solid treatment of a half forgotten good writer