Helen Garner, in her short story collection, My Hard Heart, uses a wide variety of different narrative perspectives. Each type of narration is closely linked with, and special to, the story or experience being told. Susan Hosking, describes Garners writing style as an ‘ability to refine subject matters that meaning emerges from accumulated detail rather than exhaustive explanation or description. ‘The life of Art’ is a story meant to tell of a life, of the …showed first 75 words of 1319 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1319 total…Life of Art,’ ‘Postcards from Surfers,’ and ‘All those bloody young Catholics’ are all examples of different narrative styles Helen Garner uses in her collection of short stories, My Hard Heart. Each one is unique and every one contributes a great deal to the story, adding extra depth to the lives of the characters. Garner composes different atmosphere in her short stories, not only through the topics, but also especially through her alternating narrative voices.