摘要：English-born Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007) was one of the most feted and widely loved Australian writers during the 1980s and 1990s. She made many public appearances, where she honed her slightly dotty grandmother persona to perfection. As well, she taught creative writing at Curtin University and, before that, at the Fremantle Arts Centre. The two books of essays edited by her agent, Caroline Lurie, Central Mischief and Learning to Dance, contain insights into her views about the art of fiction. Yet despite her articulate presence, and the subtle and sympathetic readings her work has attracted, there remains a mystery at the heart of Jolley’s writing, from the riotous anarchic comedies like Miss Peabody’s Inheritance to the complex remembrance of things past in her trilogy of autobiographical fictions about Vera Wright, and the strange final novels.
