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'Bringing all the power and richness of his tale as a short story writer to this, his first novel, Brian James creates an unforgettable picture of a man who always did the right thing.
Spencer Button is a hero who completely lacks heroic qualities. At heart he is romantic and likes to cut a good figure; but he is conventional, careful and ambitious, and timidity and circumstance relentlessly mould him. The chief enemy to his development as a human being is, in fact, the Public Service - an ogre he has served since boyhood; and the assiduity with which he studies his advancement in the Department destroys him as a man. For Spencer Button is a State school teacher.
Iron humour and a fine sense of the ridiculous both make and heighten the tragedy that is Spencer Button. This is the unspectacular tragedy of everyday life, infinitely moving when realized. But upper-most is the irresistible humour of characters like Auntie May and Uncle Fred, of episodes like the inspection of Selkirk school and the coming of the new music master to Simmons Street.
Brian James has a penetrating grasp of character and an astonishing range of mood. Off-setting portraits of exquisite absurdity are scenes that are masterly in their macabre pathos: The downfall of Winnie Ogg, the object of Spencer's first romance; the disintegration of Mr Foll who sacrifices himself to his son's career. Spencer's courtship of Susie, their marriage and its formal banality, his discovery of the warmth and vitality he has missed - these are so acutely drawn as to be almost painful in their reality.
Pedagogic grievances and ambitions, jealousies and snobberies, eternal and never-changing, are shown against a panorama of Australian life from the nineties to the present day. It is an impressive picture of infinite variety, an arresting and challenging story that never fails as entertainment.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: To Norman Lindsay
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Folklore and Schools : The View from the Desk
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Folklore , November no. 23 2008; (p. 188-195) ‘Over the last fifty years Children’s Folklore has established itself as a serious subject for study. From the beginning, schools have been seen as rich sites for the transmission of – and thus the recording of – Children’s Folklore.’ (p. 188) -
Brian James or John Tierney? The Teacher as Writer, or the Writer as Teacher?
1993
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , December no. 39 1993; (p. 21-36) -
The Art of Brian James
1972
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Art of Brian James and Other Essays on Australian Literature 1972; (p. 3-62) -
Babbitt and Button
1951
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 24 January vol. 72 no. 3702 1951; (p. 2) -
Three Australian Novelists
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Week-End Review , 12 January vol. 1 no. 20 1951; (p. 305, 310)
— Review of The Advancement of Spencer Button 1950 single work novel ; The League of the Lord 1950 single work novel ; Winged Seeds 1950 single work novel
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A New Novel
1950
single work
review
— Appears in: Astrovert , December no. 1 1950; (p. 5)
— Review of The Advancement of Spencer Button 1950 single work novel -
Comparing the Critics
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: The Austrovert , Winter no. 3 1951; (p. 5)
— Review of The Advancement of Spencer Button 1950 single work novel -
Pedagogy, Pearl and Plain
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 12 no. 4 1951; (p. 226-227)
— Review of The Advancement of Spencer Button 1950 single work novel -
Three Australian Novelists
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Week-End Review , 12 January vol. 1 no. 20 1951; (p. 305, 310)
— Review of The Advancement of Spencer Button 1950 single work novel ; The League of the Lord 1950 single work novel ; Winged Seeds 1950 single work novel -
Folklore and Schools : The View from the Desk
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Folklore , November no. 23 2008; (p. 188-195) ‘Over the last fifty years Children’s Folklore has established itself as a serious subject for study. From the beginning, schools have been seen as rich sites for the transmission of – and thus the recording of – Children’s Folklore.’ (p. 188) -
Babbitt and Button
1951
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 24 January vol. 72 no. 3702 1951; (p. 2) -
The Art of Brian James
1972
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Art of Brian James and Other Essays on Australian Literature 1972; (p. 3-62) -
Brian James or John Tierney? The Teacher as Writer, or the Writer as Teacher?
1993
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , December no. 39 1993; (p. 21-36) -
Spencer Button
1951
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 3 January vol. 72 no. 3699 1951; (p. 2)
- New South Wales,
- 1890-1949