In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Ryan Cropp shares with Gabriella the multiplicity of choices he made while writing Donald Horne. A Life in the Lucky Country, the biography of Donald Horne, a prominent and outspoken Australian journalist, writer, public intellectual and social critic. Last week, The State Library of NSW shortlisted A Life in the Lucky Country for the 2024 National Biography Award.
Ryan Cropp reveals why he felt compelled to write A Life in the Lucky Country and the meaning behind the book’s title. He explains why he opened the biography with a close-up view of Donald Horne in a bus looking out of the window across Sydney’s CBD while being filmed for a current affairs program and how he conducted exhaustive research for the biography.
Horne was a prolific writer and public speaker. He served as a director on several boards, including as chair of the Australia Council, and played multiple roles throughout his life. The State Library of NSW holds 200 boxes of his annotated archives, and an avalanche of other primary source material exists. Ryan explains how he narrowed the biographical scope and structured the book. Horne wrote five books about his life, three of them autobiographies. Ryan discloses how he capitalised on this information without being Horne’s ventriloquist, given that memoirists are unreliable narrators of their own life.
In many biographies of prominent men, especially those of George Orwell, their wife is invisible; however, Myfanwy, Horne’s wife, is a central character in A Life in the Lucky Country, and Ryan represents her point of view as well as her role as Horne’s literary partner. Ryan explains why he chose this approach and how he achieved it. Equally, he describes how he achieved a fine balance between portraying Horne’s public, private and inner lives. A Life in the Lucky Country is lively and compelling. Ryan outlines the novelistic devices he employed to craft such a captivating narrative and his beliefs about the role of a biographer.
‘A compulsive read about a writer who shaped the way we Australians think about ourselves.’
Judith Brett
‘Unmissable for anybody interested in the intellectual life of this country.’
Sean Kelly
‘The fascinating biography of a brilliant man who captured the nation’s imagination and boldly showed Australians who we were and how we could change.’
In the 1960s, Donald Horne offered Australians a compelling reinterpretation of the Menzies years as a period of social and political inertia and mediocrity. His book ‘The Lucky Country’ was profoundly influential and, without doubt, one of the most significant shots ever fired in Australia’s endless culture war. Ryan Cropp’s landmark biography positions Horne as an antipodean Orwell, a lively, independent and distinct literary voice searching for the temper of the people, accepting it, and moving on from there. Through the eyes - and unforgettable words - of this preternaturally observant and articulate man, we see a recognisable modern Australia emerge.
Donald Horne’s bestselling first book, ‘The Lucky Country’, offered Australians a compelling reinterpretation of the Menzies years as a period of social and political inertia and mediocrity. ‘The Lucky Country’ was profoundly influential and, without doubt, one of the most significant shots ever fired in Australia’s endless culture war.
Ryan Cropp
Ryan Cropp is a reporter in the Canberra press gallery. His writing has appeared in The Australian Book Review, Inside Story and The Saturday Paper. He previously worked in the Department of History at the University of Sydney.
Learn More:
State Library of NSW, ‘Shortlist announced for Australia’s richest biography and memoir prize’, https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-07/NBA%20shortlist%20announcement%202024.pdf
Meet The Author: Ryan Cropp, Australian National University: https://on.soundcloud.com/9fVrf
Donald Horne’s bumpy intellectual journey from right to left, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 September 2023 https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/donald-horne-s-bumpy-intellectual-journey-from-right-to-left-20230904-p5e1rx.html
Ryan Cropp introduces Donald Horne: A Life In The Lucky Country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJf3YOt044
Ryan Cropp, ‘The world that he was renouncing’ Donald Horne & the Lucky Country, Menzies Institute:
2 Comments
This was most interesting, thank you. I have linked to it in my review of Cropp’s bio.
thank you so much Lisa. I appreciate it immensely
Warmest wishes
Gabriella