Susan Bradley Smith examines the reasons behind Miles Franklin's '"failure" to achieve success [as a playwright] and its impact upon her life'. Bradley Smith concludes: 'If Franklin's "silence" as a playwright tells us anything, it is that all definition, like identity, is a negotiation. Perhaps it also serves as a reminder that the way in which history and memory are controlled and manipulated ... should be scrutinized more critically, if only to acknowledge the awkward constellations that define Australian identity.'