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First Tuesday Book Club: The voice of Albert Facey

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Photo of Albert Facey
First Tuesday Book Club: The voice of Albert Facey

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


Albert Facey's 'A Fortunate Life' is one of Australia's best-loved autobiographies.

Could it be Facey's 'voice' in his writing that touches the hearts of so many readers?

Explore this clip to learn more about how the written word can capture the personality of a writer.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What does 'spinning a yarn' mean? Do you know anyone who is good at spinning yarns? How would you characterise these 'yarns'?
  2. 2.How does Albert Facey respond to the suggestion that he had a 'sad' life? What was his reaction to the success of his autobiography? Which two words are used to describe the literary 'voice' Facey creates in his book? How does the honeymoon example reveal these qualities? What is meant by describing Facey's story as 'yarn-spinning'? What other qualities do the panellists note about Facey's literary voice?
  3. 3.How would you describe Facey after listening to him being interviewed? Does this correlate with the panellist's assessment of his literary voice? Explain your reasoning. Marieke Hardy suggests 'A Fortunate Life' gave her an insight into Australia. In what way do you think Facey's voice captures a sense of Australia's past cultural identity? Is it still representative of Australia today?
  4. 4.Spinning yarns is a part of Australia's literary tradition. Although mostly associated with colonial-era writing, and names such as Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, this tradition continues today with many contemporary writers telling outlandish tales. Read a selection of such tales. What qualities do you notice? Have a go a writing a 'yarn' yourself, developing a clear voice in your writing.


Date of broadcast: 4 Dec 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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