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{{Short description|Australian novelist and playwright (1871–1935)}}
{{for|the American journalist|Louis T. Stone}}
{{About|the Australian novelist|the American journalist|Louis T. Stone|the American actor|Lewis Stone}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox writer <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
| name = Louis Stone
| image = Louis Stone.png
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = William Lewis
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1871|10|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Leicester]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1935|09|23|1871|10|21|df=yes}}
⚫
| death_place = [[Randwick, New South Wales]], Australia
| occupation = novelist and playwright
| language = English
| nationality = British
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| notableworks =
| awards =
| years_active = 1911-1930
⚫
}}


'''Louis Stone''' (21 October 1871&mdash;23 September 1935) was an [[Australia]]n novelist and playwright.<ref name=adb>{{cite web
'''Louis Stone''' (21 October 1871 – 23 September 1935) was an Australian novelist and playwright.<ref name=adb>{{cite book
| title = Stone, Louis (1871-1935)
| title = Stone, Louis (1871-1935)
| chapter = Louis Stone (1871–1935)
| publisher = [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]
| publisher = [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]
| url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120116b.htm
| url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120116b.htm
| accessdate = 2010-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Louis|Last=Stone|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogSt-Sy.html#stone2}}</ref>
| accessdate = 2010-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Louis|Last=Stone|shortlink=0-dict-biogSt-Sy.html#stone2}}</ref>


== Early life ==
⚫
Stone was born in [[Leicester]], [[England]], baptized as William Lewis, son of William Stone, a basketmaker, and his wife Emma, ''née'' Tewkes.<ref name=adb/>


⚫
Stone was born in [[Leicester]], England, baptized as William Lewis, son of William Stone, a basketmaker, and his wife Emma, ''née'' Tewkes.<ref name=adb/> In 1884 the family emigrated to Brisbane, and then a year later, to Redfern in Sydney.
⚫
Stone qualified as a primary school teacher in 1895 and had temporary teaching positions until he obtained a regular teaching job at [[Cootamundra, New South Wales|Cootamundra]]. In 1901 Stone was transferred to South Wagga Wagga where he met [[Thomas Blamey]] who was influenced by Stone.<ref name=adb/>


He grew up in poverty. His father, who was a marine, was largely absent.
⚫
Around 1908 Stone married Abigail Allen and also began to write a novel ''Jonah'', published in London in 1911.<ref name=adb/>
⚫
Stone published his second novel ''Betty Wayside'' published in 1915.<ref name=adb/>


⚫
Stone qualified as a primary school teacher in 1895 and had temporary teaching positions until he obtained a regular teaching job at [[Cootamundra, New South Wales|Cootamundra]]. In 1901 Stone was transferred to South [[Wagga Wagga]] where he met [[Thomas Blamey]] who was influenced by Stone.<ref name=adb/>
⚫
In 1933, Stone's ''Jonah'' was republished by [[Percy Stephensen]]; it was also published in the [[United States of America]] as ''Larrikin''. ''Jonah'' was adapted for a [[Jonah (miniseries)|television series]] by the [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] in 1982;<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380915</ref> it also provided the basis for the Sydney Theatre Company musical, ''Jonah Jones'', in 1985.<ref name=adb/>

== Writing career ==
⚫
Around 1908 Stone married Abigail Allen and also began to write a novel ''Jonah'', published in London in 1911.<ref name="adb" />
According to [[Geoffrey Dutton]], Stone was intimately familiar with the setting for Jonah, spending time in [[Waterloo, New South Wales|Waterloo]] and [[Paddy's Markets|Paddy's Market]], studying the local [[larrikin]]s and their speech. The novel was warmly accepted by [[H. G. Wells]], [[John Galsworthy|Galsworthy]] and [[George Bernard Shaw]]. It was not a financial success, until popularity was finally attained in the nineteen sixties and seventies after it was put on high school reading lists.[[File:Louis Stone 88.jpg |200px|left |Caricature by David Low]][[H. M. Green (journalist)|H. M. Green]], in his ''History of Australian literature, Vol.I'' (1984), described Stone as, "The most outstanding of the novelists of city life and one of the most outstanding of all the period's novelists."<ref>Green, H. M. (1984 revised edition) ''A history of Australian literature; pure and applied, Volume I, 1789-1923'', Sydney, Angus & Robertson, p.717. {{ISBN|0207138257}}</ref> Green regards the most striking character in ''Jonah'' not the protagonist, Jonah Jones, but Mrs Yabsley, the enormous, illiterate old washerwoman, whom he describes as, "one of the most real and memorable characters in Australian literature."<ref>Green, p.724</ref>

⚫
In 1933, ''Jonah'' was republished by [[Percy Stephensen]]; it was also published in the United States as ''Larrikin''. ''Jonah'' was adapted for a [[Jonah (1982 miniseries)|television series]] by the [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] in 1982;<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Jonah'' adapted by Eleanor Witcombe|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C402679|access-date= 22 October 2024}}</ref> it also provided the basis for the [[Sydney Theatre Company]] musical, ''[[Jonah (Romeril musical)|Jonah Jones]]'', in 1985.<ref name=adb/>

⚫
Stone's second novel ''Betty Wayside'' was published in 1915.<ref name=adb/>

He took six of his plays to London after [[World War I]] in the hope of having some of them staged, but without success. The only one to be staged in his lifetime was ''The Lap of the Gods'' which, produced by [[Gregan McMahon]], had a one-week run in Sydney.

==Assessment==
A character sketch of Louis Stone is given by Norman Lindsay in ''Bohemians of the Bulletin''. Lindsay describes how the plot of Stone's last novel, ''Betty Wayside'', was [[bowdlerized]] and thus fell into obscurity, leaving Stone with a sense of failure and a mental breakdown.

[[John Galsworthy]] in 1921 wrote, “I was much struck not long ago with Lewis Stone’s novel JONAH, a very fine piece of work. His second novel, too, is good. You have in him a writer whose full value Australia does not yet seem to have realised …”<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stone |first1=Walter W. |title=The saga of a larrikin |journal=Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries |date=December 1951 |volume=4 |issue=14}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

===Novels===

* ''[[Jonah (novel)|Jonah]]'' (1911)
* ''Betty Wayside'' (1915)

===Drama===

* ''The Lap of the Gods'' (1923)


==References==
==References==
Line 20: Line 69:


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{PDFlink|''[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/p00032.pdf Jonah]''|645&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 660792 bytes -->}} at [[University of Sydney]]
* [http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/p00032.pdf SETIS - University of Sydney ''Jonah'' by Louis Stone]
* {{PDFlink|''[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/stobett.pdf Betty Wayside]''|611&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 626227 bytes -->}} at [[University of Sydney]]
* [http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/stobett.pdf SETIS - University of Sydney ''Betty Wayside'' by Louis Stone]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Louis_Stone | name=Louis Stone}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1262| name=Louis Stone}}


{{Authority control|VIAF=27433870}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata
|NAME=Stone, Louis
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=[[Australia]]n [[novel]]ist and [[playwright]]
|DATE OF BIRTH=21 October 1871
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Leicester]], [[Leicestershire]], [[United Kingdom]]
|DATE OF DEATH=23 September 1935
⚫
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]]
⚫
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Louis}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Louis}}
[[Category:1871 births]]
[[Category:1871 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Australian novelists]]
[[Category:Australian male novelists]]
[[Category:Australian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Australian people of English descent]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Australia]]

Latest revision as of 22:14, 21 October 2024

This article is about the Australian novelist. For the American journalist, see Louis T. Stone. For the American actor, see Lewis Stone.

Louis Stone
BornWilliam Lewis
(1871-10-21)21 October 1871
Leicester, England
Died23 September 1935(1935-09-23) (aged 63)
Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Occupationnovelist and playwright
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
Years active1911-1930

Louis Stone (21 October 1871 – 23 September 1935) was an Australian novelist and playwright.[1][2]

Early life

[edit]

Stone was born in Leicester, England, baptized as William Lewis, son of William Stone, a basketmaker, and his wife Emma, née Tewkes.[1] In 1884 the family emigrated to Brisbane, and then a year later, to Redfern in Sydney.

He grew up in poverty. His father, who was a marine, was largely absent.

Stone qualified as a primary school teacher in 1895 and had temporary teaching positions until he obtained a regular teaching job at Cootamundra. In 1901 Stone was transferred to South Wagga Wagga where he met Thomas Blamey who was influenced by Stone.[1]

Writing career

[edit]

Around 1908 Stone married Abigail Allen and also began to write a novel Jonah, published in London in 1911.[1]

According to Geoffrey Dutton, Stone was intimately familiar with the setting for Jonah, spending time in Waterloo and Paddy's Market, studying the local larrikins and their speech. The novel was warmly accepted by H. G. Wells, Galsworthy and George Bernard Shaw. It was not a financial success, until popularity was finally attained in the nineteen sixties and seventies after it was put on high school reading lists.

Caricature by David Low
Caricature by David Low

H. M. Green, in his History of Australian literature, Vol.I (1984), described Stone as, "The most outstanding of the novelists of city life and one of the most outstanding of all the period's novelists."[3] Green regards the most striking character in Jonah not the protagonist, Jonah Jones, but Mrs Yabsley, the enormous, illiterate old washerwoman, whom he describes as, "one of the most real and memorable characters in Australian literature."[4]

In 1933, Jonah was republished by Percy Stephensen; it was also published in the United States as Larrikin. Jonah was adapted for a television series by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1982;[5] it also provided the basis for the Sydney Theatre Company musical, Jonah Jones, in 1985.[1]

Stone's second novel Betty Wayside was published in 1915.[1]

He took six of his plays to London after World War I in the hope of having some of them staged, but without success. The only one to be staged in his lifetime was The Lap of the Gods which, produced by Gregan McMahon, had a one-week run in Sydney.

Assessment

[edit]

A character sketch of Louis Stone is given by Norman Lindsay in Bohemians of the Bulletin. Lindsay describes how the plot of Stone's last novel, Betty Wayside, was bowdlerized and thus fell into obscurity, leaving Stone with a sense of failure and a mental breakdown.

John Galsworthy in 1921 wrote, “I was much struck not long ago with Lewis Stone’s novel JONAH, a very fine piece of work. His second novel, too, is good. You have in him a writer whose full value Australia does not yet seem to have realised …”[6]

Bibliography

[edit]

Novels

[edit]
  • Jonah (1911)
  • Betty Wayside (1915)

Drama

[edit]
  • The Lap of the Gods (1923)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f "Louis Stone (1871–1935)". Stone, Louis (1871-1935). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  2. ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "Stone, Louis". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
  3. ^ Green, H. M. (1984 revised edition) A history of Australian literature; pure and applied, Volume I, 1789-1923, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, p.717. ISBN 0207138257
  4. ^ Green, p.724
  5. ^ "Jonah adapted by Eleanor Witcombe". Austlit. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  6. ^ Stone, Walter W. (December 1951). "The saga of a larrikin". Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries. 4 (14).
[edit]
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