Joan Lindsay | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Joan à Beckett Weigall 16 November 1896 St Kilda East, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 23 December 1984 (aged 88) Frankston, Victoria, Australia |
| Pen name | Serena Livingstone-Stanley |
| Occupation | |
| Alma mater | National Gallery of Victoria Art School |
| Genre | Satire, autobiography, Gothic[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Signature | |
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Joan à Beckett Weigall, Lady Lindsay (16 November 1896 – 23 December 1984)[2] was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist. Trained in her youth as a painter, she published her first literary work in 1936 at age forty under a pseudonym, a satirical novel titled Through Darkest Pondelayo. Her second novel, Time Without Clocks, was published nearly thirty years later, and was a semi-autobiographical account of the early years of her marriage to artist Sir Daryl Lindsay.
In 1967, Lindsay published her most celebrated work, Picnic at Hanging Rock, a historical Gothic novel detailing the vanishing of three schoolgirls and their teacher at the site of a monolith during one summer. The novel sparked critical and public interest for its ambivalent presentation as a true story as well as its vague conclusion, and is widely considered to be one of the most important Australian novels.[3][4] It was adapted into a 1975 film of the same name.[5]
She was also the author of several unpublished plays, and contributed essays, short stories, and poetry to numerous journals and publications throughout her career. After the death of Lindsay's husband in 1976, she spent her time involved in the local art community in Melbourne, and was involved in several exhibitions. Her last published work, Syd Sixpence (1982), was her first and only work of children's literature. Lindsay died of stomach cancer in 1984, after which her home was donated to the Australian National Trust; the Lindsay estate now operates as a museum with her and her husband Daryl's artwork and personal effects.
- ^ "Joan Lindsay (1896–1984)". Gothic Romantic. Australian Gothic Fiction. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
- ^ O'Neill, Terrence (2012). "Lindsay, Joan à Beckett (1896–1984)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 18. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
Small and delicate in appearance but vivacious and independent, Lady Lindsay served as president...
- ^ "The Top 20 must-read Australian novels". Mamamia. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ Staff. "10 Aussie books to read before you die". ABC. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
- ^ Adelaide 1988, p. 118.