Porter, Hal (1911-1984), was an Australian short-story writer, poet, playwright, and novelist. He became best known for his carefully crafted short stories and his three volumes of autobiography—The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony (1963), The Paper Chase (1966), and The Extra (1975). Porter’s fiction is marked by violence and the grotesque, with an emphasis on character instead of plot. A recurring theme in his stories is the betrayal of illusion and the loss of innocence.
Porter’s first book, Short Stories, was published in 1942. Other collections are A Bachelor’s Children (1962), The Cats of Venice (1965), Mr. Butterfry and Other Tales of New Japan (1970), and The Clairvoyant Goat (1981). His novels include A Handful of Pennies (1958), set in occupied Japan after the end of World War II in 1945; and The Titled Cross (1961), set in Tasmania in the 1840’s. His nonfiction includes Stars of Australian Stage and Screen (1965) and The Actors: An Image of the New Japan (1968). His poetry has been collected in The Hexagon (1956), Elijah’s Ravens (1968), and In an Australian Country Graveyard (1974). He also wrote three plays.
Harold Edward Porter was born on Feb. 16, 1911, in Melbourne. Before he devoted himself to writing in 1961, Porter was a journalist, teacher, director of the National Theatre in Hobart, and a librarian. He died on Sept. 29, 1984.
