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The Bush Undertaker single work   short story  
Alternative title: A Christmas in the Far West, Or, the Bush Undertaker
  • Author:agent Henry Lawson http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/lawson-henry
Issue Details: First known date: 1892... 1892 The Bush Undertaker
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

An old shepherd discovers his mate, Brummy, dead and mummified in the bush. Saddened, he feels compelled to bury him.

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Swampy and Brummy Cliff Green , Australia : ABC Television , 1980 7140470 1980 single work film/TV
— Appears in: Lawson's Mates 1980; (p. 154-195)

'Swampy was born a layabout and takes great pride in it, on the other hand Brummy drifted into loaferdom and is consumed by the memories of long years wasted in honest work. After years of relying on each other they go their separate ways but a strange quirk of fate brings the two together again.'

Source:

[Television guide], The Canberra Times, 15 February 1980, p.18.

Notes

  • This work was originally published in the Antipodean in 1892 with the title 'A Christmas in the Far West, or, the Bush Undertaker'. The title was shortened to 'The Bush Undertaker' for inclusion in Short Stories in Prose and Verse (1894) and this continued in subsequent publications.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: 'A Christmas in the Far West, or, the Bush Undertaker'
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Antipodean 1892 Z1328412 1892 periodical issue 1892 pg. 95-102
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Herald no. 17751 7 April 1934 Z1167588 1934 newspaper issue 1934 pg. 38
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon While the Billy Boils : The Original Newspaper Versions Henry Lawson , Paul Eggert (editor), Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2013 6155517 2013 selected work short story (taught in 3 units)

    'Fifty-two of Henry Lawson's stories and sketches that he had first published in newspapers and magazines from 1888 onwards were gathered in his collection While the Billy Boils (Angus & Robertson, 1896). Lawson was not responsible for their ordering and he had to give ground on their texts, especially on his idiosyncratic presentation of wordings that helped to breathe life into his characters and situations. The present edition dismantles the fait accompli of 1896 by presenting the individual items in the chronological order of their first publication and with their original newspaper texts. This will allow a new appreciation of Lawson's writing, one that is attentive to his developing powers.

    'The edition also facilitates a close study of Lawson's collaboration with the producers of the collection in 1896, in particular with his copy-editor Arthur W. Jose and publisher George Robertson. Facsimile images (available online) of the printer's copy that they prepared for While the Billy Boils supplement the edition's listing of the alterations that each of them made, revealing the textual history of each story or sketch.' (Publisher's blurb)

    Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2013
    pg. 74-89

Works about this Work

Short Fiction Short Nation : The Ideologies of Australian Realism Jonathan Dunk , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , November vol. 33 no. 3 2018;

'This paper examines the ways in which short stories have interacted with different national contexts throughout the history of modern Australia, endorsing and resisting what Fredric Jameson calls the symbolic resolution of narrative, and subsequently considers the processes by which certain critical trends and interpretive emphases can illuminate or obscure that interaction through comparative readings of texts by Henry Lawson and John Kinsella.'

Source: Abstract.

Henry Lawson Peter Kirkpatrick , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Greats 2008; (p. 49-52)
Drover's Wife Echoes in Computer Data Loss Brian Matthews , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 17 April vol. 17 no. 7 2007;
The Camaraderie of Not Caring : Misreading Henry Lawson Patrick Morgan , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , November vol. 51 no. 11 2007; (p. 60-64)
The Status of the Aborigine in the Writing of Henry Lawson : A Reconsideration Christopher Lee , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: The La Trobe Journal , Spring no. 70 2002; (p. 74-83)
'Resurrecting' the Australian Past : Henry Lawson's 'The Bush Undertaker' Robert J. Dingley , 1998 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Body in the Library 1998; (p. 155-165)
The Camaraderie of Not Caring : Misreading Henry Lawson Patrick Morgan , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , November vol. 51 no. 11 2007; (p. 60-64)
An Old Magazine Reginald Spencer Browne , 1927 single work review
— Appears in: The Brisbane Courier , 19 February 1927; (p. 20)
Spencer-Browne reviews an early issue of The Antipodean.
Drover's Wife Echoes in Computer Data Loss Brian Matthews , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 17 April vol. 17 no. 7 2007;
Henry Lawson Peter Kirkpatrick , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Greats 2008; (p. 49-52)
Last amended 1 Sep 2022 08:34:51
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