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Jessica Anderson Jessica Anderson i(A33375 works by) (a.k.a. Jessica Margaret Queale Anderson)
Born: Established: 25 Sep 1916 Gayndah, Gayndah - Mundubbera area, Biggenden - Gayndah - Monto area, Central West Queensland, Queensland, ; Died: Ceased: 9 Jul 2010 Elizabeth Bay, Kings Cross area, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Jessica Anderson was born in 1916 at Gayndah, Queensland. After the family moved to Brisbane, Queensland, in the 1920s for better educational opportunities, she attended Yeronga State School and Brisbane State High. In 1935, after some training in art at the Brisbane Technical College Art School, she left for Sydney, New South Wales. She remained in Sydney, except for several periods in England, for the rest of her life.

In Sydney Anderson wrote, mostly under pseudonyms, stories for periodicals and for radio. Her adaptations of literary works for radio developed her sense of structure and her ear for dialogue. She also wrote three original radio dramas during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Anderson's first novel, An Ordinary Lunacy (1963), the first under her own name, was published in England because she rightly believed that Australian publishers would baulk at the tale of sexual obsession. Her next three novels suffered from poor marketing and attracted little attention until her first Australian published novel, Tirra Lirra by the River, won the Miles Franklin Award in 1978. After that success her fiction began to attract more recognition and her next novel, The Impersonators (1980), also won several awards.

Her fiction appeared on university syllabi and has been analysed in a number of book-length studies. Her explorations of identity in relation to family and place focus particularly on women, exhibiting the influence of Christina Stead and Henry James. Her fiction displays an impressive use of language and experimentation with narrative form.

Jessica Anderson is the mother of Laura Jones (q.v.)

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Taking Shelter Ringwood : Penguin , 1989 Z299829 1989 single work novel

'Beth is intrigued by the witty and charming Miles, but perplexed by his reluctance to make love to her. When she meets Marcus, the very antithesis of Miles, they embark on a passionate and uneasy relationship. Surrounding Beth are Kyrie, her brash, sexually adventurous cousin; Nita, Marcus's mother mourning the defection of her man; and Juliet, who continually ponders her own dreams while making everyone else's come true.

'Here are people drawn together in their tentative quests for permanence, tenderness and love in an era when there are no rules about the age, gender or the faithfulness of lovers.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1990 shortlisted NBC Banjo Awards NBC Banjo Award for Fiction
1991 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
y separately published work icon Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories Ringwood : Penguin , 1987 Z366184 1987 selected work short story autobiography

'Stories told from the point of view of Beatie, a young girl growing up in Brisbane,  (Publication summary)recreate family relationships and trace the path from adolescence to adulthood.'

1988 shortlisted NBC Banjo Awards NBC Banjo Award
1987 commended FAW ANA Literature Award
1987 winner The Age Book of the Year Award Book of the Year
1987 winner The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction Prize
1987 winner The Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards Barbara Ramsden Award
y separately published work icon The Impersonators South Melbourne : Macmillan , 1980 Z796237 1980 single work novel When Sylvia Foley returns to Australia after twenty years, she finds her father, Jack Cornock, ill. This and his obstinate silence provoke speculation about his will among the families of his two marriages, Sylvia becomes enmeshed in the webs of their alliances and disaffections. The Impersonators portrays the breakdown of family relationships and the endurance of love in a materialistic age. (Source: Sydney University Press)
1980 winner Miles Franklin Literary Award
1981 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Last amended 28 Jul 2010 09:59:05
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