The Education of Young Donald Trilogy: Including Confessions of a New Boy and Portrait of an Optimist

by Julia Horne, Nick Horne, Donald Horne

Overview

A compelling insight into the making of one of Australia's foremost public intellectuals. A classic of Australian literature, The Education of Young Donald Trilogy combines Donald Horne's three autobiographies—The Education of Young Donald (1967), Confessions of a New Boy (1985) and Portrait of an Optimist (1988)—in one volume. With a keen intellect, sharp wit, and dry humour, Horne vividly describes his formative years as he moves between different millieux, from an idyllic rural childhood to the excitement of university, experience as a Second World War serviceman, life in post-war England, and the rough and tumble world of old-school journalism. With a foreword by novelist Tracy Sorensen and a new introduction by Julia Horne and Nick Horne, The Education of Young Donald Trilogy is a revealing and instructive tale from the author of The Lucky Country and an absorbing account of Australian social and intellectual life from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781742245331
Publisher:	NewSouth
Publication date:	10/22/2021
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	816
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Julia Horne is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Sydney and university historian. She has published widely on Australian cultural and social history. Nick Horne is a Sydney taxi driver and editor of Donald Horne: Selected Writings (2017). Donald Horne (1921–2005) was an Australian writer. He worked in journalism, starting as a reporter for The Daily Telegraph and going on to edit the intellectual periodical The Observer and The Bulletin. He was an academic in the school of political science at the UNSW from 1973-1986. He wrote two dozen books including The Lucky Country, The Story of the Australian People, Death of the Lucky Country, The Great Museum, and 10 steps to a more tolerant Australia.

Table of Contents

Foreword Introduction BOOK ONE THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG DONALD Prologue Making our own fun Part 1 Our Part of the Valley (1927–34) 1 In the manner of country towns 2 The planting of memories 3 Country, King, God 4 'Be yourself, Don' 5 Extracts from the diary of … 6 En avant Part 2 A Boy in a Street (1935–37) 7 Usurpers in the family 8 Clever in a new way 9 Extracts from the diary of a high school boy 10 Dad 11 More serious inside 12 Extract from the diary Part 3 Young Donald (1938–40) 13 Two days 14 A rapid growth of true understanding 15 An answer to everything 16 Do it all at once 17 Extract from a student's notebook 18 Lessons from life Part 4 I Had to Be Myself (1940–41) 19 Summer of an anarchist 20 All in, the whippy's taken! 21 Every dog has his day BOOK TWO CONFESSIONS OF A NEW BOY Part 1 The Making of Gunner Horne (1942–44) 1 Scenes from the life of an occasional malingerer 2 A series of vaudeville acts 3 The accident anecdote 4 Gunner Horne finishes his training 5 Combat zone Part 2 A Diplomatic Self (1944–45) 6 In transit 7 A political town 8 Putting myself together Part 3 Living with a Woman (1944–45) 9 A world of our own 10 Another enormous room 11 Perhaps I could become anything 12 A life of mutual independence Part 4 The Making of a Journalist (1945–49) 13 Someone who lived near the Cross 14 'By Donald Horne' 15 Part of the Royal Standard set 16 Living in a mixed neighbourhood 17 The Sunday Telegraph Beach Girl Quest of 1947 18 Settling down? 19 Selling out? 20 Like life in a minor novel BOOK THREE PORTRAIT OF AN OPTIMIST Part 1 Traveller (1949– 4) 1 Getting away 2 Homecoming 3 What could be more interesting than the village? 4 Getting on with it 5 One can always tell a gentleman 6 As it happened that summer 7 What do you hope to do, Donald? 8 Surely I must be learning something from this? Part 2 Adventurer (1954–58) 9 The temptation of excitement 10 Our one great enterprise 11 Two years in the life of Captain Horne 12 Laughing all the way

Editorial Reviews

‘… a superb book.’ —Peter Coleman, The Australian

‘I commend it to you quite fiercely.’ —Max Harris, The Australian

 

‘… an exhilarating inquiry into the sources and quality of the facts and ideas that made him …’ —H.G. Kippax, Sydney Morning Herald

 

‘… a master of the autobiography-as-an-art form’ —Denis O’Brien, The Australian

 

‘In some ways, his personality embodied the Australia into which he was born in 1921: hard edged, wry-humoured, industrious and pragmatic. In a country with a deeply ingrained anti-intellectual tradition … Horne was a feisty advocate for the virtues of intellectual life.’ —Mark McKenna, The Australian

 

‘Australia had made him and he was concerned to remake Australia … it was his country and as such it had no right to be boring or provincial or mediocre.’ —Owen Harries, Speech at Horne Memorial

 

‘Donald Horne is Australia’s special gift to the world …’ —Kenneth Hudson, Art Monthly

 

‘His three-volume autobiography is one of the major literary achievements of twentieth century Australia …’ —Meaghan Morris, Gleebooks Gleaner

From the Publisher