The book, The Climate of Courage written by Jon Cleary was published in serial form in The Sydney Morning Herald (31 October 1953 to 18 December 1953).
On 19 November 1953 SMH published this letter by Jon Cleary regarding his book:
Novelist Replies:
Sir, May I claim some small space to answer a flock of letters that has descended on me as the result of a paragraph in my novel "The Climate of Courage" currently running as a serial in your newspaper.
The paragraph concerned spoke of the "uncivilised" drinking hours of Sydney, and laid part of the blame upon "wowsers." I have had too many letters to answer personally, but I feel they must be answered, since without exception every one of them is insulting. All of them are written by self-announced "wowsers" who harangue me about the disgusting behaviour of drinkers, drunkards who have no idea of manners or respect for the "finer things of life," and then go on to accuse me of being the sort of drunkard who entices his children to go on the bottle as a relief from their school homework.
While some of my best friends are drunkards,I should like to point out in your columns that I personally am a total abstainer. Some readers do not seem to be able to separate an author from his characters.
Since 'The Climate of Courage" has other controversial points in its later episodes, let me get in early and say that my characters have minds of their own. I only work here.
JON CLEARY
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