Rigby's Romance (1921) is a novel by Joseph Furphy. Written under his
pseudonym "Tom Collins," Rigby's Romance is a sequel of sorts to Such
is Life, a unique and challenging story that took decades to achieve a
proper audience. Earning comparisons to the works of Melville and Twain,
Furphy's novel is considered a landmark of Australian literature. "Just
as a bale of wool is dumped, by hydraulic pressure, to less than half
its normal size, I scientifically compressed something like twenty-four
hours' sleep into the interval between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Then a touch of
what you call dyspepsia and I call laziness, kept me debating with
myself for another swift-running hour." Between such beguiling narration
and lively conversations with the characters he meets on his travels
through the Australian outback, Tom Collins presents himself as a
philosophizing everyman, a prototype of such characters as Joyce's
Leopold Bloom and Beckett's Molloy. Journeying in search of his friend
Jefferson Rigby, a gentleman and adventurer like himself, Collins
reflects on their history together and longs for his company. When the
two meet up, they engage in a long discussion on politics and the nature
of humanity, touching on topics as strange and diverse as Australia's
legendary wildlife. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally
typeset manuscript, this edition of Joseph Furphy's Rigby's Romance is
a classic work of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.
