Hard Joy: Life and writing (Susan Varga, Upswell)

Susan Varga spent the first half of her life having affairs with inappropriate men, including some of the older leading lights of the libertarian Sydney Push. At the same time, she struggled to find her real vocation, studying for a law degree she barely used and once turning down the chance to be assistant director for Peter Weir’s first major film. Luckily for Varga, everything changed for her in midlife: she found true lasting love with a woman and finally dared to out herself as a writer. Perhaps Varga just needed many years of distance from the psychic damage inflicted by the Push’s patriarchal superiority and predatory sexuality—as well as from the overbearing influence of a moralistic mother. Hard Joy mainly details Varga’s endlessly eventful life, but it’s framed by her mother, Heddy—their difficult relationship forged in Varga’s babyhood during a desperate Holocaust escape, ending over 60 years later with Heddy’s descent into despair. ‘Hard joy’ is the term Varga uses to describe the act of writing, and it is a very appropriate title for this exploration of a privileged but often dissatisfied life. Written with tremendous honesty and clarity of expression, it is enhanced by black-and-white photographs and punctuated by occasional poetry. Don’t let this put you off—Varga is a born poet, even if it did take her most of her life to realise it, and the poems deepen and transcend the prose on the page. Anyone interested in the Sydney Push, the lives and battles of creative women, or the Holocaust and its immense repercussions will find much food for thought here.

Julia Taylor worked in trade publishing for many years.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews