Is My Brilliant Career A Novel Based On A True Story?

Question

I've loved this Australian classic for years but always wondered about the author's inspiration. Was Miles Franklin's protagonist actually her, or purely fictional?

davidherl · Answer

No. ‘My Brilliant Career’ is a classic Australian novel written by a woman in 1901. As a work of fiction it is somewhat based on the author’s life but a much better modern work of fiction featuring a brilliant professional woman and her complex relationships would be ‘The Billionaire’s Ex-wife Is a Brilliant Lawyer’. This novel focuses on a very clever and business savvy attorney. The novel looks at her many very high stakes cases but also the incredible tension that exists between herself and her powerful ex-husband. Much of the novel focuses on their complex post-relationship history.

Kai · Answer

'My Brilliant Career' is not a true story but it is very true. The author Miles Franklin based the story of Sybylla in this novel on her own life growing up in rural Australia. His struggles to complete his education in a time when there was much opposition to it and his desire to pursue a career in writing despite the socially-accepted view that he should return to the farm to care for his family are apparent throughout the novel. I like Sybylla because she is a very individual person and she clings to her individuality at great personal cost. Franklin’s writing is so full of life and attitude that it is a pleasure to read. The novel is a classic which doesn’t seem to date at all. It is simply honest.

Dylan · Answer

MY BRILLIANT CAREER by Miles Franklin is one of those recently released classic novels that has been receiving so much buzz in book clubs that I felt I had to read it for myself. Although not strictly true, this beautifully written novel by the author of the novel was inspired by her own life. My Brilliant Career was actually written by the very young Miles Franklin and the heroine Sybylla is a feisty young girl who is determined to be independent. You can almost smell the author’s anguish and passion as she poured her own teenage yearnings and frustrations into this young rebel. She wrote it while growing up on a property in rural Australia in the late 19th century and the struggle against the pressures of society to find her place in the world is so compellingly and vividly portrayed that it is almost like you are there yourself with this feisty young heroine. Luv a duck, I was absolutely riveted by this book and really feel that anyone who enjoys coming-of-age stories about fiery young heroines will love this.

It’s really interesting that “My Brilliant Career” is still so relevant today. The novel follows Sybylla, a feisty young woman who refuses to marry for the sake of convenience. Her journey is to find her own way in the world and she perseveres against many odds. The writing is wonderful – it is sharp, witty and heartfelt. Although it is not a true biography, there is great emotional truth in the novel and it provides a wonderful insight into life in rural Australia during the late 19th century. For me, the themes are very universal and so I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves strong, flawed heroines in historical fiction that has real bite.

Xenon · Answer

The line between fiction and memoir has always been of interest to me and My Brilliant Career is one such book. Although it is not a true story Miles Franklin has imbued the main character Sybylla with so much of her own spirit that the book reads almost like a memoir. It is very frustrating in places and also very inspiring and you can’t help but feel for the main character in equal measure. The book was written by Franklin when she was just 16 and it is very much a 16-year-old girl’s view of life. In many ways it is the story of a young, hard-set girl rebelling against the narrow restrictions of the life of a woman in 1890s Australia and it is a story that will certainly resonate with many people. It is also a wonderful description of the landscape of rural Australia and you can tell that Franklin loved the country and knew it very well indeed. It is a classic for a reason – it’s got a wonderful, rebellious spirit to it.

Kevin · Answer

I actually picked this book up off the shelf thinking that it would be one of the classic Australian novels. What I found was that ‘My Brilliant Career’ was surprisingly modern. Although it is not a true story, the author Miles Franklin drew from her own experiences so that it might as well be true. I was really able to identify with the clever, feisty and restless Sybylla who is the main character. Written by a woman, of a woman, about a woman in the 19th century the novel is able to critique the society’s view of women and the country in very sharp and humorous observations. Even though it is a short book it packs a big punch. It’s a great read for anyone who enjoys feminist literature or reading about different time periods. Sybylla is not a perfect heroine and is incredibly messy at times but this is why I found her so lovable.

WiLson T An · Answer

Not exactly but it’s all so very fuzzy in the middle. So although Franklin wrote The Babies Factory from her own life experiences (the feeling of being locked up and wanting to escape and rebel against expectations for example), her experiences were molded by Franklin to serve her artistic and polemical purposes.

She was a fiercely independent young woman from the bush, Sybylla’s kind of person. Her life has been written about extensively and you can clearly see parallels with her and Sybylla, as well as lots of differences that the author has chosen to emphasize. So it is ‘true’ in terms of spirit and emotions and the social comment, but beyond that it’s a novel not a biography and I think it’s so much better than a biography could be because it reaches a lot of people and it’s about a universal experience of young people rebelling against things.

Tammy Keene · Answer

The answer is simple – ‘It is a novel’. But so much more. Franklin’s Novel of her life is also vital piece of her autobiographical testimony so disguised. Here, the novel-form was apparently of prime significance for her to deliver this statement of her condition as a woman, in this time, in this place, of such deep pain and antagonism in as honest, critical a manner as was possible for her to have written.

But the novel also allowed Franklin to portray the deeply unlikable Sybylla. She could be as rude and bitter and hopeless as Franklin might secretly wish to be but be far too polite and ladylike to actually express in print. And so while appearing to be ‘just a story’, Punca delivers a terrific shock of criticism to the breast of social convention. But is it based on a true story? Franklin’s book is based on the true facts of her life as a woman at a particular time and place in history. The facts have simply been rearranged to illuminate a higher truth.

Rachael Greenhalgh · Answer

I call it ‘essential fiction’ because it would not have been written by the author had he not lived that particular life. The detail of the terrible drought years, the struggles of the selector families, the agonising uncertainty and embarrassment of being poor but well-educated, hungry to improve yourself – all these were not research for the novel but a soaking up of them by the author as he lived them.

Years later, the book was released and Franklin was visibly embarrassed. He wrote a story and exposed himself in a most vulnerable way. The details of life during a long, harsh drought, the struggles of the selector families, the awkwardness of social situations where he was clearly the poorer, yet better educated, young man – all of these were exposed in a most Revealing manner. Not a true story, but a true exposure.

Emily Knapp · Answer

I get the romanticization of the history that includes this fierce, funny, and often hopeless voice. There’s nothing better than a writer speaking from history unfiltered. But that is not Franklin the artist. Franklin the artist is something entirely different and is being completely mischaracterized when author and character are conflated.

Authorial choices are abound in Franklin’s novel. The progression of her characters, the colloquial dialogue for character and theme revelation, and the storyline’s fictional progression to reveal a deeper, historical truth – all of these are found within the pages of the novel and not within the strict bounds of true story. Franklin took the liberty to not only tell her own young life in a fictional format, but to relate the experiences of her generation of women. That’s more important.

Xujinli · Answer

No – this is not a memoir. Although the author is long deceased, it would no doubt be categorized differently than it is currently and be picked apart by scholars referring back to her own diaries and other writings. Instead this is solid Fiction, of the ‘confessional’ type – i.e. where one can so clearly sense the author’s presence that it is almost as if they were sitting talking with you, their secrets revealed through fictional characters.

When she later distanced herself from the book she felt exposed. This is not true for entirely invented stories. Franklin drew the lightning from her own stormy adolescence and wrote the story of Sybylla Melvyn. It is not the factual story of Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin but her story in spirit, anger and in dazzling, uncomfortable truth.

Is My Brilliant Career A Novel Based On A True Story?

10 Answers

Related Books

My Fabulous Girl Boss

My Billionaire Boss’ Dirty Secret

HIRED AS A BILLIONAIRE'S WIFE

Bad Boss: An Office Romance

The Day a Counterfeit Heiress Ruined My Rise

My Best Friend Chose the CEO Over His Career

Topic

Related Questions

What is the main theme of My Brilliant Career?

Is the women a novel based on a true story?

Is the bone collector novel based on a true story?

Are there best novels about sports based on true stories?

Is 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' based on a true story?

Is Becoming Mrs. Lewis novel based on a true story?

Is The Bookshop Woman based on a true story?

Is 'Bel Canto' based on a true story?

Is 'and they were roommates' based on a true story?

Is The Good Lawyer based on a true story?