Hal Porter


Harold Edward "Hal" Porter was an Australian novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer.

Biography

Porter was born in Albert Park, Victoria, grew up in Bairnsdale, Victoria and worked as a journalist, teacher and librarian. A car accident just before the outbreak of war prevented him from serving in World War II. His first stories were published in 1942 and by the 1960s he was writing full-time. His 1963 memoir, The Watcher on the Cast Iron Balcony, is regarded as an Australian masterpiece.
His other works were less successful. The literary critic Laurie Clancy said: "Porter's novels are, with one exception, less successful than his stories, not least because his scorn for most of his characters becomes wearying over the length of a novel." The exception, Clancy thought, was The Tilted Cross, a historical novel set in Hobart in the 1840s.

Honours

In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours Porter was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature.

Book

In 1993, Mary Lord, Hal Porter's long-time friend and fellow-writer, published a controversial biography of Porter, under the title Hal Porter: Man of Many Parts.