My first Delicious descriptions post was from Barbara Hanrahan on the sun in Adelaide, so I thought we might travel to Sydney for this one. As it's still in summer in our neck of the woods, here is Marjorie Barnard in The persimmon tree and other stories (1943), also on the sun - and its enervating effect: In … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Marjorie Barnard on the sun and heat
Author: Whispering Gums
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Barbara Hanrahan on the sun
When you read do you come across passages that you just want to hang onto forever - but (if you're a blogger) when you go to write your blog review you can't quite make them fit? I do, and have been pondering for some time what to do about it. Then, suddenly, it came to … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Barbara Hanrahan on the sun
Monday musings on Australian literature: The lost child motif
In his rather notorious review (1955) of Patrick White's The tree of man, Australian poet, A.D. Hope, at his caustic best, described the requisite features of the Great Australian novel (GAN). One of these was that it must include a child lost in the bush, a reference to the prevalence of this motif in Australian literature. The tree of man … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The lost child motif
Madeleine St John, The women in black
One thing mystified me as I started reading Madeleine St John's The women in black and that is why she would write a book in 1993 about 1950s? It seemed an odd choice. And then, as I read further, it started to become clear. The time period represents one of those cultural watersheds that nations … Continue reading Madeleine St John, The women in black
Monday musings on Australian literature: The beach
Not only do the majority of Australians live in urban areas but, given that much of Australia is dry, the majority of these urban areas are on the coast. You can guess what's coming next - yes, the majority of Australians live near the sea. And, if they don't, they gravitate to it in their … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The beach
Wikipedia wants YOU (if you’re a woman)
Wikipedia has turned 10 - as I'm sure you've heard by now. Like all good organisations celebrating an anniversary, it is engaging in a little navel-gazing - and discovering some interesting things. To wit ... Yesterday the thoughtful Stefanie of So many books emailed me an article from The New York Times because she remembered … Continue reading Wikipedia wants YOU (if you’re a woman)
Freedom, a postscript
In one of those wonderful bits of reading synchronicities, I woke up this morning to read about US District Judge Roger Vinson declaring ObamaCare unconstitutional. Florida Governor Rick Scott (among others) agrees, saying that: "ObamaCare is an unprecedented and unconstitutional infringement on the liberty of the American people". Those of us in other parts of the … Continue reading Freedom, a postscript
Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
Hmm ... where to start? Half way through this book I was tiring. I wanted to say to Franzen "Enough already" (which, if you've read the book, has a certain appositeness). I also started to think of those song lines, so well-known to my generation: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. In … Continue reading Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
Monday musings on Australian literature: Outback continent, urban culture?
I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall, And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all (From "Clancy of the Overflow", by Banjo Paterson) In "Clancy of the Overflow", Banjo … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Outback continent, urban culture?
Mario Vargas Llosa, The feast of the Goat
If Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa's The feast of the goat had been a traditional historical novel, chances are it would have started with the assassins concocting their plan and then worked chronologically to its logical conclusion. But, it is not a traditional historical novel, as is reflected in the structure Vargas Llosa has chosen to tell his … Continue reading Mario Vargas Llosa, The feast of the Goat
Whispering Gums 