J. M. Harcourt

John Mewton Harcourt (2 March 1902 – 1971), commonly known as J. M. Harcourt, was an Australian writer, known for his 1934 novel Upsurge, which was banned soon after publication.

J. M. Harcourt
Born	John Mewton Harcourt (1902-03-02)2 March 1902 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died	1971 (aged 68–69) New South Wales, Australia
Notable works	Upsurge (1934)

Life

John Mewton Harcourt was born on 2 March 1902 in Melbourne, Victoria,^[a] and grew up in Western Australia.^[2] He ran away from boarding school when he was quite young, and spent much of his youth working as a sundowner (itinerant labourer) and jackaroo.^[1] He spent time in Victoria and New South Wales, before heading back west to Kalgoorlie to join his father. There he worked as an assistant surveyor, and later worked in the pearling industry in Broome,^[2] eventually becoming captain of a pearling lugger.^[1]

Educating himself at the State Library of Western Australia in Perth, Harcourt moved into journalism by sending articles to newspapers.^[1] He wrote about the Depression in Western Australia. He published his first novel, Pearlers, in 1933.^[3] Leaving Perth in 1934 to move to Melbourne after being offered a at Truth, he joined the Communist Party of Australia.^[1]

He published his second novel, Upsurge, in 1934,^[2] which became the first Australian book to be officially banned under the guidelines of the Commonwealth Book Censorship Board (Norman Lindsay's Redheap had been banned under different legislation in 1930),^[4] which had been established in 1933 by Prime Minister Joseph Lyon's United Australia Party (later renamed the Literature Censorship Board).^[5] It was initially banned as seditious, later reviewed and the ban confirmed, ostensibly on grounds of indecency^[6] and explicit depictions of sex under the Indecent Publications Act,^[7] after the recently established Book Censorship Board had suggested the ban.^[8] It was the first Australian novel to employ the socialist realist style, the manner promoted by the Soviet Union at that time. However the main cause of its ban was its socialist tone and subversive agenda which criticised capitalism,^[9] featuring Communist characters in its portrayal of life in the relief camps of the Depression.^[2]

He published It Never Fails : Being a Narrative of the Adventures of Julius Windowen Among the Natives of the Antipodes in 1937.^[2]

Harcourt died in New South Wales in 1971.^[2][10][11]

Selected works

Novels

• The Pearlers 1933^[12][13]
• Upsurge 1934^[14]
• It Never Fails 1937^[15]

Footnotes

1. One source says he was born in Katanning, WA.^[1]

References

1. "Rare Book banned and burnt by police ... Upsurge by J. M. Harcourt". The Lost Knowledge Book Shop. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
2. "J. M. Harcourt". AustLit. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
3. "Book reviews". The West Australian. Vol. XLIX, no. 9, 662. Western Australia. 17 June 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 16 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
4. Pierce, P. (2009). The Cambridge History of Australian Literature. Cambridge histories online. Cambridge University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-521-88165-4. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
5. Azzi, Jessica (July 2010). "Refused Classification" (PDF). Communications Law Bulletin. 29 (1): 21–23. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
6. Stanley, Peter (17 April 2022). "Banned". reCollections. Review of an exhibition entitled Banned at the National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
7. ""Upsurge"". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 16 August 1934. p. 2 (City Final Last Minute News). Retrieved 16 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
8. Bunyan, Marcus (21 October 2021). "J. M. Harcourt Upsurge". Art Blart. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
9. Kotai-Ewers, Patricia (November 2013). The Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA) from 1938 to 1980 and its role in the cultural life of Perth (PDF) (MPhil). Murdoch University. p. 138.
10. "Harcourt, John Mewton - Author". Colonial Australian Popular Fiction: A Digital Archive. University of Melbourne. School of Culture and Communication. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2022. Created 13 February 2009
11. Hobby, Nathan (20 December 2007). "Westraliana #1: Upsurge by J.M. Harcourt". State Library of Western Australia Blog. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
12. Harcourt, J. M. (John Mewton) (1933), The pearlers, John Long Limited, retrieved 16 April 2022
13. "Pearlers of Broome". The Herald. No. 17, 549. Victoria, Australia. 12 August 1933. p. 25. Retrieved 16 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
14. "W.A. author's book taken from shops". The Daily News. Vol. LIV, no. 18, 537. Western Australia. 15 August 1934. p. 1 (Late City). Retrieved 16 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
15. Harcourt, J. M. (John Mewton) (1937), It never fails : being a narrative of the adventures of Julius Windowen among the natives of the Antipodes, John Long Limited, retrieved 16 April 2022

Further reading

• Harcourt, J. M. (18 February 1939). "Demand for Defence: arresting new book". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 28, 859. Book review of Demand for defence: being a plan to keep Australia white and free, by Bill Wentworth. p. 4 – via National Library of Australia.
• Harcourt, J. M. (1986) Upsurge, a novel / by J.M. Harcourt. Facsim. ed. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, W.A. Includes an introduction by Richard A. Nile summarising the novel, its history and the life of Harcourt.