Going Blind single work   short story  
  • Author:agent Henry Lawson http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/lawson-henry
Issue Details: First known date: 1895... 1895 Going Blind
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Tells the story of a bushman who is losing his sight and his attempts to remain optimistic.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Eagle 27 July 1895 Z1518784 1895 newspaper issue 1895 pg. 6-7
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Worker 29 June 1895 6181006 1895 newspaper issue 1895
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon While the Billy Boils Henry Lawson , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1896 Z822461 1896 selected work short story Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1896 pg. 70-77
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Herald no. 17834 13 July 1934 Z1519288 1934 newspaper issue 1934 pg. 22
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Children's Lawson Henry Lawson , Colin Roderick , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1949 Z1312348 1949 selected work poetry short story children's Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1949 pg. 90-95
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Bush Undertaker and Other Stories Henry Lawson , Colin Roderick (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1970 Z386989 1970 selected work short story humour Includes a detailed bibliographic commentary on each story with particular attention to revisions. Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1970 pg. 55-59
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon While the Billy Boils : 87 Stories from the Prose Works of Henry Lawson Henry Lawson , Hawthorn : Lloyd O'Neil , 1970 Z1215630 1970 selected work short story Includes stories from Lawson's main collections - While the Billy Boils, On the Track and Over the Sliprails. Hawthorn : Lloyd O'Neil , 1970 pg. 43 - 47 Section: First series
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Short Stories Henry Lawson , Sydney : Beagle Press , 1981 Z1342037 1981 selected work short story (taught in 3 units) Sydney : Beagle Press , 1981 pg. 34-36, 39-40
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Essential Henry Lawson : The Best Works of Australia's Greatest Writer Henry Lawson , Brian Kiernan (editor), South Yarra : Currey O'Neil , 1982 Z368836 1982 selected work poetry short story criticism biography South Yarra : Currey O'Neil , 1982 pg. 139-142
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Prose Works of Henry Lawson Collected Short Stories of Henry Lawson Henry Lawson , Sydney : Home Entertainment Library , 1935 Z389778 1935 selected work short story Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1982 pg. 35-38
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon A Camp-Fire Yarn : Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 Henry Lawson , Leonard Cronin (editor), Sydney : Lansdowne , 1984 Z378657 1984 selected work poetry short story autobiography prose criticism drama biography Sydney : Lansdowne , 1984 pg. 454-456
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Henry Lawson Favourites Henry Lawson , South Yarra : Currey O'Neil , 1984 Z451192 1984 selected work short story humour South Yarra : Currey O'Neil , 1984 pg. 62-65
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Henry Lawson's Mates : The Complete Stories of Henry Lawson Henry Lawson , Windsor : Budget Books Lloyd O'Neil , 1979 Z487806 1979 selected work short story autobiography humour Ringwood : Viking O'Neil , 1987 pg. 43-47
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Classic Australian Short Stories Maggie Pinkney (editor), Noble Park : Five Mile Press , 2001 Z864787 2001 anthology short story Noble Park : Five Mile Press , 2001 pg. 198-204
  • 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. 341-349

Works about this Work

Ways of Seeing : Henry Lawson's 'Going Blind' Brian Kiernan , 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 9 no. 3 1980; (p. 298-308)
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.
Ways of Seeing : Henry Lawson's 'Going Blind' Brian Kiernan , 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 9 no. 3 1980; (p. 298-308)
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.
Last amended 29 Jul 2013 11:33:33
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