Cirrus@Austlit

'The appearance in recent years of a paperback edition of The Man Who Loved Children - a Penguin "Modern Classics" edition - has contributed to a growing awareness among Australian readers of the international recognition that the work of Christina Stead now commands. To many Australian readers of this edition it may have come as a surprise to find that Christina Stead was born and raised in this country, In the past Stead has generally been considered worthy of mention in histories of Australian literature as the author of Seven Poor Men of Sydney, her first novel, which has long been regarded as something of a landmark of modernism in the Australian novel. Stead left Australia at quite an early age, however, and all of her novels have been written and published, and most of them set, in foreign countries. It was inevitable, then, but nonetheless unfortunate that her later achievements in the novel were largely overlooked by Australian critics, who apparently ceased to regard Stead and her novels as part of Australia's literary tradition.' (Introduction, first paragraph)