AustLit

'The four relationships that writing has with the world, will, love, and self-healing make up the main contents of Elizabeth Jolley’s view on literary writing, a view that demands literary writing to treat the probe into the inner world as its task, the motion and will as its motive, and healing society with "literature for the sake of the world" as its purpose. Such a view went beyond the narrow scope of Australian Realist literature, during her time, that focused on the conquer of the external world, the heroes in the jungle, and the politicization of literature. Jolley believes that writing is a probe into human heart, and that, while depicting the external world, a writer should pay more attention to characters’ spiritual world, experience their spiritual pains, and discover his/her true self by understanding the inner workings of their mind. Writing is an act of will, which means that a writer is not a genius independent of the world, but a wise man who can constantly regulate, at will, his relationship with the world and empower him/herself by discovering the world. Writing is an act of love, namely, if love is the standpoint for writing, the writer should not only take on a grand theme like "the hero in the jungle", but also represent ordinary people’s dilemmatic existence, relieve their pains, and nourish, with the power of love, the dignity of ordinary people’s lives. Writing is self-healing because it may serve as an outlet for one’s deep distress, nurture one’s mind, and rectify social mishaps. Jolley’s view on literary writing fully discloses her sense of social responsibility and humanistic sensibility as a writer.' (Publication abstract)