image of person or book cover 9086440463084429075.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon My Only Murder and Other Tales selected work   short story   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1899... 1899 My Only Murder and Other Tales
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A collection of gruesome and uncomfortable short stories detailing life in the Australian outback - including stories of ghosts and murder. 

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:George Robertson , 1899 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Mein Einziger Mord My Only Murder, Delcomyn , single work short story (p. 1-10)
A Tale of Vanderlin Island, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 11-25)
The Other Mrs Brewer, Binghi , single work short story (p. 33-40)
The Burial of Owen, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 41-8)
Tommy's Ghost, Delcomyn , single work short story (p. 55-63)
The New Super at Oakley Downs, Delcomyn , single work short story (p. 64-74)
An Unquiet Spirit, Ernest Favenc , single work short story humour (p. 75-89)
Bill Somers, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 99-107)
Jerry Boake's Confession, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 108-17)
What Puzzled Balladune, Binghi , single work short story (p. 118-31)
The Story of a Long Watch, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 132-44)
The Ghost's Victory. An Orthodox Christmas Story, Ernest Favenc , single work short story humour (p. 145-60)
The Sea Gave up its Dead, Felix Slowboy , single work short story (p. 161-171)
Mrs. Stapleton No.2, Binghi , single work short story humour (p. 172-9)
The Boundary Rider's Story, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 180-91)
The Eight-Mile Tragedy, D [Favenc] , single work short story (p. 192-200)
Not Retributive Justice : A Story of Spinifex Land, Binghi , single work short story (p. 211-17)
A Gum-Tree in the Desert, Ernest Favenc , single work short story (p. 237-43)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

'The Beast Within' : Degeneration in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Three Australian Short Stories Anne Maxwell , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 31 October vol. 30 no. 3 2015;

'Both Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Clarke’s ‘The Mystery of Major Molineux’ (1881) appear to have influenced a small group of Australian short story writers who were working in the decade immediately preceding Federation. Their work appeared in The Bulletin, The Boomerang and the Australian Journal, as well as in privately edited collections of short fiction. This essay examines Campbell McKellar's 'The Premier's Secret' (1887) and Ernst Favenc's 'My Only Murder' (1893), in addition to Clarke’s ‘The Mystery of Major Molineux’, to determine how these three writers used the concepts of degeneration, the double brain and multiple personality, and to what ends. My contention is that, like Stevenson, the colonial writers explore atavism and reversion by using motifs and elements drawn from Gothic and popular crime fiction to expose the depravity of members of the nation’s ruling classes, but paradoxically also to lend them a more human face. While we might recognise greater moral ambiguity in the Australian stories compared to Stevenson’s, accounting for that ambiguity is more difficult. One possible explanation is that the writers were not just more mindful of the public’s growing taste for fictions that shocked and thrilled, they were also more willing to satisfy this demand. A second is the greater class mobility within Australian society compared to that of Britain, and that this generated a stronger tolerance for the savage impulses that lay at the heart of the settler enterprise. In other words, in that the violence that accompanied settlement had become a part of everyday life, the Australian stories appear to be more at ease with the atavistic elements of their characters – the veneer of civilisation seems to be much thinner in Australia than in Britain. Closely related to this idea is Australian audiences’ more ready acceptance of personal traits like eccentricity, mateship and anti-authoritarianism, which can arguably be traced to the colony’s convict beginnings but also to its mounting desire for an independent future.'

Source: Abstract.

Publications Received 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 27 May 1899; (p. 971)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
Untitled 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 6 May vol. 57 no. 2026 1899; (p. 1027)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
New Novels 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Australasian , 22 April vol. 66 no. 1725 1899; (p. 889)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
Untitled 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Book Lover , vol. 1 no. 1 1899; (p. 1)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
Untitled 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Book Lover , vol. 1 no. 1 1899; (p. 1)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
New Novels 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Australasian , 22 April vol. 66 no. 1725 1899; (p. 889)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
Untitled 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 6 May vol. 57 no. 2026 1899; (p. 1027)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
Publications Received 1899 single work review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 27 May 1899; (p. 971)

— Review of My Only Murder and Other Tales Ernest Favenc , 1899 selected work short story
'The Beast Within' : Degeneration in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Three Australian Short Stories Anne Maxwell , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 31 October vol. 30 no. 3 2015;

'Both Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Clarke’s ‘The Mystery of Major Molineux’ (1881) appear to have influenced a small group of Australian short story writers who were working in the decade immediately preceding Federation. Their work appeared in The Bulletin, The Boomerang and the Australian Journal, as well as in privately edited collections of short fiction. This essay examines Campbell McKellar's 'The Premier's Secret' (1887) and Ernst Favenc's 'My Only Murder' (1893), in addition to Clarke’s ‘The Mystery of Major Molineux’, to determine how these three writers used the concepts of degeneration, the double brain and multiple personality, and to what ends. My contention is that, like Stevenson, the colonial writers explore atavism and reversion by using motifs and elements drawn from Gothic and popular crime fiction to expose the depravity of members of the nation’s ruling classes, but paradoxically also to lend them a more human face. While we might recognise greater moral ambiguity in the Australian stories compared to Stevenson’s, accounting for that ambiguity is more difficult. One possible explanation is that the writers were not just more mindful of the public’s growing taste for fictions that shocked and thrilled, they were also more willing to satisfy this demand. A second is the greater class mobility within Australian society compared to that of Britain, and that this generated a stronger tolerance for the savage impulses that lay at the heart of the settler enterprise. In other words, in that the violence that accompanied settlement had become a part of everyday life, the Australian stories appear to be more at ease with the atavistic elements of their characters – the veneer of civilisation seems to be much thinner in Australia than in Britain. Closely related to this idea is Australian audiences’ more ready acceptance of personal traits like eccentricity, mateship and anti-authoritarianism, which can arguably be traced to the colony’s convict beginnings but also to its mounting desire for an independent future.'

Source: Abstract.

Last amended 15 Sep 2022 11:29:07
X