Reading the Three as One: 'Such is Life' in 1897

No doubt many scholars have been intrigued by the nature of the original manuscript of 'Such is Life' which A G Stephens read in 1897. In my 1991 study of Furphy's works I grappled with the textual difficulties of reconstructing it from what remains of the manuscript, Furphy's typescript revision of it, the final printed version of 1903, and the two novels 'The Buln-buln and the Brolga' and 'Rigby's Romance', which were recast from excised sections of the manuscript (Croft Ch.3). What I now find more intriguing than the physical shape of that text, is what the experience of reading that original manuscript would have been like. We have a record of the response of several of Furphy's relatives and friends, of Stephens' opinion, and hints from Furphy's correspondence of other responses (Croft 47-53). But what would the 1897 'Such is Life' be like to a reader 110 years after the publication of its slimmed-down descendant? What follows is an account of an attempt to read that original novel from what remains in accessible print form.