Alan Marshall
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Alan Marshall (2 May 1902, Noorat, Victoria — 21 January 1984, Melbourne) was an Australian writer, story teller and social documentor.
His best known book, I Can Jump Puddles (1955) is the first of a three part autobiography. The other two are This is the Grass (1962) and In Mine Own Heart (1963).
When he was six years old he contracted polio leaving him with a physical disability that grew worse as he grew older. From an early age, Marshall resolved to be a writer, and in I Can Jump Puddles he demonstrated an almost total recall of his childhood in Noorat. The characters and places of his book are thinly disguised real people. Mount Turalla is Mount Noorat, Lake Turalla is Lake Keilambete, the Curruthers are the Blacks, and his best friend Joe is Leo Carmody.
Australian poet and contemporary, Hal Porter wrote in 1965 that Alan Marshall is
the warmest and most centralized human being ... To walk with ease and nonchalance the straight, straight line between appearing tragic and appearing wilfully brave is a feat so complex I should not like to have to rake in the dark for the superbravery to accomplish it.[1]
Alan Marshall wrote numerous short stories, mainly set in the bush. He also wrote newspaper columns and magazine articles. He travelled widely in Australia and overseas. He also collected and published Indigenous Australian stories and legends.
[edit] Bibliography
- I Can Jump Puddles. Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1955.
- This is the Grass. Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1962. ISBN 058525654X
- In Mine Own Heart. Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1963.
- Aboriginal Myths, with Sreten Bozic. Melbourne: Gold Star Publications, 1972. ISBN 0726001139
- Pull Bown The Blind, with Noel Counihan. Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire & London: Wadley & Ginn, 1949
[edit] References
- Marks, Harry. I Can Jump Oceans: The World of Alan Marshall. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson (Australia), 1976. ISBN 0170019772
- Porter, Hal. "Melbourne in the Thirties" in London Magazine, 5(6): 31-47, September 1965.
