Cirrus@Austlit

'Those engaged in Australian literary studies in China are in particular need of a sustaining passion for their research subject to survive a disadvantaged situation, where major literatures claim overwhelming attention white minor ones are unjustifiably left in the cold. Also, they are hindered by a common stumbling block: the growing material attraction in a commercialised society poses a threat to academic pursuit, drawing them away to potentially lucrative fields. Those who have stayed firm are likely filled with great enthusiasm for Australian literature, or Australia at large. I assume I;m one of them. ' (Introduction)
 

'My Brilliant Career was written by Stella Franklin (1879-1954) when she was just nineteen years old. The novel struggled to find an Australian publisher, but was published in London and Edinburgh in 1901 after receiving an endorsement from Henry Lawson. Although Franklin wrote under the pseudonym 'Miles Franklin', Lawson’s preface makes it clear that Franklin is, as Lawson puts it 'a girl.'

'The novel relates the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a strong-willed young woman of the 1890s growing up in the Goulburn area of New South Wales and longing to be a writer.' (Publication summary)