AustLit

Barnes argues that Furphy constructed Such is Life to give an impression of the "seeming shapelessness and uncertain consequence of everyday life". Drawing on evidence from a typescript of the novel and Furphy's correspondence, Barnes demonstrates how Furphy deliberately imposed the narrative structure and hidden plots.

Phillips rejects the view that Lawson's prose lacks technical virtuosity. Phillips argues that Lawson's aim was not to tell a story, but to evoke the quality of Australian living. Lawson's spare narratives, effective understatement and ironic twists within a symmetrical structure produce stories of substantial artistic value.

Hope examines the stories of Lawson and Rudd and argues that Lawson's are the more universal because Rudd's fiction requires a greater understanding of his time and place. But Rudd was able to create universal comic characters, despite the presence of too much slap-stick comedy. Hope concludes that both writers deserve critical attention and should be accepted into the tradition of comic literature exemplified by Mark Twain.