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Examines three Mitchell Libraries manuscripts on the life of Louisa Lawson, one written by herself, and two by her daughter Gertrude, and discusses their role as sources of some of Henry Lawson's stories.
Kiernan argues that "Going Blind" dramatizes the relationship between imagination and reality. Homesickness and nostalgia cloud the main character's memory of the bush, but Kiernan concludes that while it is important to acknowledge the "real", one needs the ideal to sustain one in adversity and to enable a sympathetic rapport with others.
Argues that Deniehy, whose concern was to foster the development of a national literature, can be claimed to have been one of the best literary critics in Australia in the 19th century, and that his literary criticism was more sophisticated and philosophically grounded than that of A.G. Stephens.