I wonder what would make an Australian biographer decide to write about an American couple? And I wonder, having now read Hazel Rowley's Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage, what she would have made of, say, Joseph and Enid Lyons, Australia's own political power couple. Unfortunately we'll never know as Rowley died just around the … Continue reading Hazel Rowley, Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage
Month: September 2011
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Albert Camus on world peace
How's this for a bit of communication across cultures: an Australian biographer reporting a French writer commenting on the death of an American president. It comes from the book I'll be reviewing in the next couple of days, Hazel Rowley's Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage. In it Rowley quotes Albert Camus on the death of Franklin … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Albert Camus on world peace
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers from Victoria
Over the course of these Monday musings have been occasional posts on writers from specific geographic locations in Australia - but I have not done our two most populous regions, the states of Victoria and New South Wales. The time has come to confront there two - and so, today, I present you Victoria. Now … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers from Victoria
Willa Cather, When I knew Stephen Crane
I haven't reviewed a Library of America offering for a while and so have decided it's time I dipped again into its offerings. Willa Cather's essay/journalistic piece "When I knew Stephen Crane", which they published last month, appealed to me because of a couple of synchronicities. One is that Lisa of ANZLitLovers reviewed Crane's The red … Continue reading Willa Cather, When I knew Stephen Crane
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Arnold Zable on survival and stories
Arnold Zable is not, I believe, very well-known even in Australia, but I think he is a beautiful writer. He has a lovely way with words but, more importantly I think, his writing is warm and generous. I've read two of his novels - Cafe Scheherazade and Sea of many returns - and enjoyed them both. Zable was born in 1947 in New … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Arnold Zable on survival and stories
Monday musings on Australian literature: Japanese poetry in Australia
Papa Gums loves to give me clippings of obituaries that he knows will interest me. Last week, from his hospital bed, he gave me one for an Australian poet I'd never heard of, Janice Bostock. She was, according to the obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald, "one of Australia's leading writers of Japanese poetic forms", … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Japanese poetry in Australia
Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto
Would you believe the issue of fact and fiction is consciously raised in yet another novel I've read? In his preface to The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole suggests that it's possible the story - which he tells us that he "found" and translated - is based on fact. And he concludes that: If a … Continue reading Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto
Whither dictionaries?
I'm always a bit suspicious of writers who nay-say some new development. You know, like television will be the death of cinema, the book is dead, and so on. The latest I've read is in an article from the Independent that appeared in our local newspaper. The article*, "Death of the dictionary" by John Walsh, … Continue reading Whither dictionaries?
Monday musings on Australian literature: Late bloomers
I guess every country has them, the writers who aren't recognised until their middle age. Australia certainly does, and many of them seem to be women. I'm not sure whether this apparent gender imbalance is a fact or simply reflects my biased interest in the lives of women writers. I wouldn't be surprised if it … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Late bloomers
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Thea Astley on aging
Regular readers of this blog will now that I'm a big fan of Thea Astley. One of her last novels (novella, actually) was Coda, a biting story about elderly widow Kathleen who is losing her memory but struggling, with little help from her self-centred children, to maintain some independence and, more, dignity. The book is full of wonderful … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Thea Astley on aging
Whispering Gums 