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Rigby's Romance is a revised and expanded version of the original chapter five in the Such is Life typescript (1898).
The narrator, Tom Collins, is on his way from Echuca to Yooringa to fulfil a contract to clear a Riverina run of cattle. Hoping to meet his old friend, Jefferson Rigby, Collins is surprised by an encounter with Rigby's former sweetheart, Kate Vanderdecken, who has come to Australia in search of Rigby. Collins arranges an introduction before heading to the banks of the Murray River to fish for a thirty-pound cod he has heard is in the area. He is joined by the bullockies Steve Thompson and Robert Dixon, characters from Such is Life, and several others: a kangaroo-hunter named Smith; a trapper named Furlong; a farmer named Binney and his brother-in-law, the Methodist minister Harold Lushington; and, eventually, Rigby himself. Like The Buln-buln and the Brolga, Rigby's Romance involves a series of yarns told in different styles about politics, ethics, religion and law. All hinge in some way on failed love affairs, but, as is his way, Rigby's love story about a local German publican soon evolves into a long sermon on Christian socialism, and he forgets about the appointment he has made with Kate Vanderdecken.
Furphy expressed a preference for Rigby's Romance later in life. Like The Buln-buln and the Brolga, it can be read as an independent work. In revision, Furphy changed the narrative in significant ways, particularly in his expansion of Rigby's sermons on state socialism. In other cases, he probably transferred text from the original chapter two to fill in details at the beginning of the novel. And so, despite its independence as a work, Rigby's Romance retains many cross-references to the larger original work, most notably the presence of Tom Collins as an unreliable narrator.
Adaptations
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Rigby's Romance
2013
single work
drama
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 1 2013; 'This script is an adaptation of the novel Rigby's Romance.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Interspecies Mateship : Tom Collins and Pup
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 1 2013;'This essay examines the representation of dogs, especially Pup in the novels of Joseph Furphy.' (Author's abstract)
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'Double Line to the Terminus' : Marriage, Sex, Romance and Joseph Furphy
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 1 2013; 'This article reads Furphy's fiction in the context of his own failed marriage. It notes Furphy's interest in sex and romance, and his insistence on a degree of sexual realism despite the inhibitions of Victorian decorum. Referring to some of the unstated elements in the story of Alf Morris and Molly Cooper and the more ludicrous treatments of sex in Such is Life, and the rape story in Rigby's Romance, the article argues that Furphy contributes to our understanding of sexual behaviour in nineteenth century Australia.' (Author's abstract) -
Tom Collins and Work
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The 1890s : Australian Literature and Literary Culture 1996; (p. 210-227) -
Joseph Furphy, Such is Life
1992
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Radical Tradition : Lawson, Furphy, Stead 1993; (p. 31-58) Studies in Classic Australian Fiction 1997; (p. 109-133) 'Joseph Furphy's Such is Life (1903) opens simply and clearly enough with that memorable, sardonic initial declaration: 'Unemployed at last!’170 The complex reaction of the relief from work, while at the same time the prospect of poverty and hunger; the sense of liberation, while at the same time the hitter reflection that it is only through unemployment that working men and women can ever attain the state of leisure and relaxation available to the upper classes: all this is succinctly implied. There is a lot said but not said, a lot of social observation and
commentary on the economic situation.' (Introduction) -
Rigby's Romance
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Life and Opinions of Tom Collins : A Study of the Works of Joseph Furphy 1991; (p. 216-245)
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Rigby's Romance
1921
single work
review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 12 November 1921; (p. 3)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
Untitled
1921
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bookfellow , 15 October 1921; (p. 159)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
Review of Rigby's Romance
1946
single work
review
— Appears in: Union Recorder , 13 June 1946; (p. 78)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
Rigby's Romance
1947
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Books , vol. 2 no. 3 1947; (p. 67-70)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
The Furphy We Forget
1947
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australasian Book News and Library Journal , February vol. 1 no. 8 1947; (p. 354)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
Rigby's Romance
1922
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Corroboree : The Journal of the Australian Literature Society , January vol. 1 no. 4 1922; (p. 5-6) -
Untitled
1922
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: Corroboree : The Journal of the Australian Literature Society , February vol. 1 no. 5 1922; (p. 4) -
Joseph Furphy, Such is Life
1992
1992
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Radical Tradition : Lawson, Furphy, Stead 1993; (p. 31-58) Studies in Classic Australian Fiction 1997; (p. 109-133) 'Joseph Furphy's Such is Life (1903) opens simply and clearly enough with that memorable, sardonic initial declaration: 'Unemployed at last!’170 The complex reaction of the relief from work, while at the same time the prospect of poverty and hunger; the sense of liberation, while at the same time the hitter reflection that it is only through unemployment that working men and women can ever attain the state of leisure and relaxation available to the upper classes: all this is succinctly implied. There is a lot said but not said, a lot of social observation and
commentary on the economic situation.' (Introduction) -
Rigby's Romance
1921
single work
review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 12 November 1921; (p. 3)
— Review of Rigby's Romance : A Made in Australia Novel 1905-1906 single work novel -
The Nervous Nineties
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Independent Monthly , December-January vol. 2 no. 6 1990-1991; (p. 36-37)
- Riverina - Murray area, New South Wales,