The stranger from Melbourne

Frank Hardy was both a writer and a conspicuous public figure. So huge is his public legacy that it often overshadows the literary work and the books he wrote, many of which are no longer in print. Mr. Hardy may not have been the greatest writer Australia has ever produced, but he was perhaps one of the greatest literary risk takers and experimenters. This book looks at Hardy the writer and Hardy the public/private historical figure - from the halcyon days of Australian Communism in the forties - to the period following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. These years, 1944-1975, represent some of the key trurning points in Hardy's writing and in particular, the significant changes in his relationship to the Communist Party of Australia, which are central to understanding his writing.