My reading has been so disjointed recently that I thought I'd look at recent Library of America (LOA) offerings for inspiration, and came across Helen Keller's "I go adventuring", an excerpt from her Midstream: My later life. It appealed to me because I haven't read anything by Keller since I was a teenager, and because this … Continue reading Helen Keller, I go adventuring (Review)
Author: Whispering Gums
Monday musings on Australian literature: Explorers’ journals
In last week's Monday Musings post I quoted from some explorers' journals. There's something wonderful about reading early impressions of a place - which in the case of Australia means the impressions of Anglo-European explorers, by sea in the late 17th and 18th centuries, and by sea and land in the nineteenth centuries. The impressions … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Explorers’ journals
Kavita Nandan, Home after dark (Review)
When Kavita Nandan offered me her novel to review I was happy to accept because its setting - Fiji, Australia and India - intrigued me. I've read several novels set in India, and by Indian writers, but none set in Fiji or by Fijiindian writers. Moreover, as Nandan wrote in her email, and as the … Continue reading Kavita Nandan, Home after dark (Review)
Life … sends you detours
"Life ... sends you detours" is a line I quoted from the short story "Sunrise over Sausalito" in the last review I posted here at Gums. That review, posted on 11 July, was for the short story collection Love on the road 2015. Unfortunately, since then we have experienced our own love-on-the-road detours. This is why, … Continue reading Life … sends you detours
Monday musings on Australian literature: Let’s get physical – The Red Centre
A couple of years ago I wrote three Let's get physical posts in which I focused on physical descriptions of places in Australia. Since, I am currently in Central Australia (for my third time), I thought it would be good to write another post or two in this series. Central Australia - or the Alice Springs Region, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Let’s get physical – The Red Centre
Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 3, Gender and the study of Austen
Jane Austen and gender studies are made for each other, not only because the content of her novels inspire feminist critique (albeit sometimes conflicting, because, well, all her heroines get married, don't they?), but also because reactions to her tend to be polarised along gender lines. (Remember my reporting in a recent post on VS Naipaul's … Continue reading Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 3, Gender and the study of Austen
Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Annette Marfording of the Bellingen Writers Festival
Having been intrigued by comments made by Annette Marfording, Program Director of the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, about running a literary festival, I approached her about writing a guest post for my blog. I thought her experience might intrigue at least some of my readers here too. Marfording chairs one-on-one conversations and panels at the Festival, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Annette Marfording of the Bellingen Writers Festival
Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 2, The art of literary research
For my second post on JASA's Emma: 200 years of perfection conference, I want to share (or, at least, summarise for my own edification) some of the ways the speakers had gone about researching Emma, at least as they became apparent to me via their papers. None of these are particularly mind-blowing - they are … Continue reading Emma: 200 years of perfection: Pt 2, The art of literary research
Monday musings on Australian literature: David Unaipon Award
I've mentioned the David Unaipon Award several times in passing but have never devoted a post specifically to it. Today seemed to be a good time to do it, as it would mean I've bookended this year's NAIDOC week with Monday Musings posts devoted to indigenous literature. Just to recap, David Unaipon is credited as the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: David Unaipon Award
Sam Tranum and Lois Kapila, Love on the road 2015 (Review)
Rules, they say, are made to be broken, and so it was that I broke my rule* of not accepting overseas publications for review and said yes to a short story anthology from Ireland, Love on the road 2015: Twelve more tales of love and travel. I'm not exactly sure, in fact, why an Irish publisher … Continue reading Sam Tranum and Lois Kapila, Love on the road 2015 (Review)
Whispering Gums 