Madeleine St John
Encyclopedia
Madeleine St John was an Australia
n writer, the first Australian woman to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction
(in 1997 for her novel The Essence of the Thing).
, a suburb of Sydney
, and schooled at Queenwood School for Girls
, Mosman
. She was born to Edward St John
, the son of a Church of England
clergyman. Her French mother, Sylvette (Cargher), committed suicide when St John was 12.
She went the University of Sydney
to study arts where she was a contemporary of Bruce Beresford
, John Bell
, Clive James
, Germaine Greer
, Arthur Dignam
and Robert Hughes
. She married Christopher Tillam, a filmmaker, with whom she moved to San Francisco to live while he studied film. The marriage ended after St John went to live in England during 1968, where she continued to live. She took a series of jobs in bookshops and offices. Eventually she stuck with a part time job for two days a week at an antique shop in Kensington. During the following eight years she attempted to write a biography of Helena Blavatsky but was dissatisfied and destroyed the manuscript.
In the early 1990s she decided to write novels. Her first, The Women in Black was published in 1993.
Not used to the success her writing brought, she remained a very private person, almost reclusive in style if not in actuality. She died of emphysema at the age of 64.
, for a film but has yet to be made. The next three are a kind of trilogy based in London's Notting Hill
, where she lived. The Essence of the Thing (1997) was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize
. She was working on a new novel when she died.
Beresford writes that "a major strength of her writing was the accumulation of minutiae". He says that "she was so furious over some minor point in a French translation of one of her novels that she refused to allow it to appear. Kamikaze-like, she stipulated in her will that there were to be no translations of her novels into any language".
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n writer, the first Australian woman to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
(in 1997 for her novel The Essence of the Thing).
Biography
Madeleine St John was born in 1941 in CastlecragCastlecrag, New South Wales
Castlecrag is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Castlecrag is located 8 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Willoughby....
, a suburb of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and schooled at Queenwood School for Girls
Queenwood School for Girls
Queenwood School for Girls is an independent, non-denominational, Christian day school, located in the suburb of Mosman, on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, Mosman
Mosman, New South Wales
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.-Localities:In February...
. She was born to Edward St John
Edward St John
Edward Henry St John QC was a prominent Australian barrister, anti-nuclear activist and Liberal politician in the 1960s. His political career came to a controversial end after he criticised the Prime Minister John Gorton. His book A Time to Speak was an account of his eventful three years in...
, the son of a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman. Her French mother, Sylvette (Cargher), committed suicide when St John was 12.
She went the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
to study arts where she was a contemporary of Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
, John Bell
John Bell (actor)
John Anthony Bell, AO, OBE is an Australian actor and theatre director.Bell was born 1 November 1940 in the town of Maitland, New South Wales where he was educated at the Marist Brothers....
, Clive James
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
, Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
, Arthur Dignam
Arthur Dignam
Arthur Dignam is an Australian character actor.Dignam was born on Lord Howe Island. He attended Newington College in Sydney as a boarder 1955–1956....
and Robert Hughes
Robert Hughes (critic)
Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...
. She married Christopher Tillam, a filmmaker, with whom she moved to San Francisco to live while he studied film. The marriage ended after St John went to live in England during 1968, where she continued to live. She took a series of jobs in bookshops and offices. Eventually she stuck with a part time job for two days a week at an antique shop in Kensington. During the following eight years she attempted to write a biography of Helena Blavatsky but was dissatisfied and destroyed the manuscript.
In the early 1990s she decided to write novels. Her first, The Women in Black was published in 1993.
Not used to the success her writing brought, she remained a very private person, almost reclusive in style if not in actuality. She died of emphysema at the age of 64.
Writing career
She wrote four novels. The first one, The Women in Black, published in 1993 and being re-released in 2009, is a comedy of manners set in a department store in her native Sydney during the 1950s. It is the only one of her novels to be set in Australia and has been optioned by Australian director, Bruce BeresfordBruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
, for a film but has yet to be made. The next three are a kind of trilogy based in London's Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, where she lived. The Essence of the Thing (1997) was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. She was working on a new novel when she died.
Beresford writes that "a major strength of her writing was the accumulation of minutiae". He says that "she was so furious over some minor point in a French translation of one of her novels that she refused to allow it to appear. Kamikaze-like, she stipulated in her will that there were to be no translations of her novels into any language".
Works
- The Women in Black (1993)
- A Pure Clear Light (1996)
- The Essence of the Thing (1997)
- A Stairway to Paradise (1999)