person or book cover
Image courtesy of UWA Publishing
Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Elizabeth Jolley was a fine writer. Her publishing career began when she was in her 50s in Australia, but as author Brian Dibble demonstrates, her writing developed through the decades in England and Scotland, from her family of origin, to boarding schools and hospital wards, and into her independent adult life. The array of wild characters in her fiction - misfits and those on the edge of society - can also be found in the Jolley's remarkable life. It could be said that the times suited Jolley's rise as a major Australian writer, when old habits - of who and what could be published - were broken. Brian Dibble was given complete access to the writer's private papers and has spent more than a decade travelling the world to follow leads on the story of Elizabeth Jolley. This is a lyrical and readable biography, one that presents a world of family and pleasures, but is always infused somewhere with an unexpended sadness.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crawley, Inner Perth, Perth, Western Australia,: UWA Publishing , 2008 .
      person or book cover
      Image courtesy of UWA Publishing
      Extent: xvii, 350p.p.
      Description: illus., ports
      Note/s:
      • Publication date : 20 November 2008
      • Includes Notes (p.254-284), list of Works Cited (p.302-327) and Index (p.328-334)
      ISBN: 9781921401060 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

A Great Novelist and a Dramatic Life Adi Wimmer , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 24 no. 1 2010; (p. 118-119)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
A Great Novelist and a Dramatic Life Adi Wimmer , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 23 no. 2 2009; (p. 225-226)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley by Brian Dibble Susan Lever , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 9 2009;

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Untitled Felicity Plunkett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 69 no. 2 2009; (p. 201-208)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
WA Authors Vie for PM's Prize William Yeoman , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 September 2009; (p. 5)
A Jolley Difficult Life Until the Final Chapter Elizabeth Webby , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 September 2008; (p. 36)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
'Let a Message Be Found' Delys Bird , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 305 2008; (p. 7-8)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Complex Memoir of WA Literary Maven Anne Partlon , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 15 October 2008; (p. 8)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Her Dark Inheritance Geordie Williamson , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 October 2008; (p. 8-9)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Dance to the Music of Life Michael McGirr , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 25 October 2008; (p. 21-22)

— Review of Doing Life : A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley Brian Dibble , 2008 single work biography
Between a Muddle and a Mystery Drusilla Modjeska , 2008-2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Monthly , December-January no. 41 2008-2009; (p. 62-65)
WA Authors Vie for PM's Prize William Yeoman , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 September 2009; (p. 5)
Last amended 24 Apr 2015 13:58:25
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    United Kingdom (UK),
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    Western Europe, Europe,
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    Australia,
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