MOST Australians know Henry Lawson and Judith Wright as literary icons.
Less well known is that both were deaf – a fact often overlooked in discussions of their work.
Lawson began losing his hearing at age nine; Wright in her early twenties. Neither identified as culturally deaf, but both described deafness as integral to their lives and writing.
Lawson said deafness was “in a great measure responsible for my writing”.
Wright wrote it “reached into all the interstices of my life.”
Yet on AustLit, only 10 of 788 entries on Lawson mention his deafness; only four of 595 for Wright mention hers.Born in 1867 in Grenfell, NSW, Lawson’s hearing loss worsened from age nine to 14.
Although we can’t precisely define his later hearing levels, he needed people to face him to communicate. Of attending plays, he wrote he only ever “saw” them – relying on reading, questions, or guessing the plot.
In the late 19th century, there were no hearing aids or accommodations.
Lawson wrote directly about deafness in essays like A Fragment of Autobiography, and in poems such as The Soul of a Poet.
His deafness also influenced his style. He rarely described sound – even in scenes that begged for noise.
Born in 1915 in Armidale, NSW, Wright began to lose her hearing at 22. Diagnosed with otosclerosis, she was denied entry into the women’s forces during WWII.
She retained some hearing with a hearing aid until later life, but communication remained exhausting.
This effort shaped her poetic focus on silence, language’s limits, and nonhuman life – particularly birds.
Authors: Amanda Tink, Western Sydney University and Jessica White, University of South Australia
Source: Extracts from Theconversation.com.au
