Why do some writers fall out of favour only to be rediscovered with great fanfare, then disappear again?

Some of Australia’s foremost writers and literary academics will discuss just topic that next month at a UNSW symposium about Australian writers Christina Stead and Elizabeth Harrower.

Separated by a quarter of a century but interested in each other’s work, Stead and Harrower both suffered long periods during which their writing was all but forgotten.

For Stead, it was admiration from within American literary circles that re-ignited Australian attention, says UNSW Arts & Social Sciences senior lecturer Dr Fiona Morrison.

Patrick White first read and admired Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children in 1965, after its re-issue with a passionate introduction by American literary critic Randall Jarrell.

White also admired Harrower, and it was through him that the two women reconnected in Sydney.

“It is extraordinary to reflect on the early- to mid-1970s in Sydney when Stead, White and Harrower were connected. What an amazing combination of writers,” says Dr Morrison.

“Yet, it is the immediate post-war world that more closely connects Stead and Harrower and some of their greatest works of fiction, which are often bleak and fiercely unsentimental,” she says.

“It is important to ask why Patrick White’s literary reputation and standing is incontrovertible and yet we are still ‘rediscovering’ Stead and Harrower.”

Dr Morrison, whose current research project examines Stead’s time in America, is convening the symposium, which will engage with cutting edge research about the two women.

Writer Delia Falconer says Stead’s Seven Poor Men of Sydney was one of her great reading experiences. She joins Gail Jones and David Malouf to discuss Stead’s work, while Michelle de Kretser, Fiona McFarlane and publisher Ivor Indyk explore the strange worlds of Harrower’s novels.

WHAT: Rediscovering Again: Christina Stead / Elizabeth Harrower

WHEN:  Christina Stead: 3 Dec 2015, 9am-5pm; Elizabeth Harrower: 4 Dec 2015, 9am-5pm

WHERE: Io Myers Studio, UNSW Kensington Campus

Contact: Dr Fiona Morrison, 0419 224 616

For more information visit the UNSW Arts & Social Sciences event page