'This is a tale of corruption stretching from street corner SP bookmaking to the most influential men in the land - and the terrible personal cost of the power such corruption brings. John West rose from a Melbourne slum to dominate Australian politics with bribery, brutality and fear. His attractive wife and their children turned away from him in horror. Friends dropped away. At the peak of his power, surrounded by bootlickers, West faced a hate-filled nation - and the terrible loneliness of his life. Was John West a real figure? For months during the post-war years, an Australian court heard evidence in a sensational libel action brought by businessman John Wren's wife. After a national uproar which rocked the very foundations of the Commonwealth, Frank Hardy was acquitted. This is the novel which provoked such intense uproar and debate across the nation. The questions it poses remain unanswered…' (Publication summary)
Power Without Glory
ABC Television
(publisher),
( dir. John Gauci
et. al. )agent
Australia
:
Paradine Productions
ABC Television
,
1976
Z1690132
1976
series - publisher
film/TV
Spanning the 1890s to the 1950s, Power Without Glory is the story of a man determined to make something of his life. Raised in a Melbourne slum area, John West later gains wealth and power, his influence extending into his business, his political ambitions, and his family life. The events of his life unfold against a backdrop of major historical events, including World War One and the beginnings of the Australian Labour Party.
‘In human reckoning, Golden Ages are always already in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod, in Works and Days, posited Five Ages of Mankind: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic and Iron (Ovid made do with four). Writing in the Romantic period, Thomas Love Peacock (author of such now almost forgotten novels as Nightmare Abbey, 1818) defined The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) in which their order was Iron, Gold, Silver and Bronze. To the Golden Age, in their archaic greatness, belonged Homer and Aeschylus. The Silver Age, following it, was less original, but nevertheless 'the age of civilised life'. The main issue of Peacock's thesis was the famous response that he elicited from his friend Shelley - Defence of Poetry (1821).’ (Publication abstract)
Marxism and Literary History
Oxford
:
Blackwell
,
1986
Z998650
1986
single work
criticism
Focusing on Marxist literary theory and literary history in general, the book includes readings of texts by various international authors, among them Australian author Frank Hardy.
John Wren : A Life Reconsidered
Carlton North
:
Scribe
,
2004
Z1101494
2004
single work
biography
James Griffin argues that John Wren was not Australia's Al Capone as portrayed in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, but the victim of Australia's culture wars. Griffin contends that Frank Hardy's research was flawed and 'fuelled by political objectives and personal ambition.'
