At the end of last week's Monday Musings, I asked whether "saying something" was important to you, meaning, really, is it a top criterion when you choose what to read or when you talk about what you've read? For me, it is, as you can probably tell from the sorts of reviews I write. So, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Expressing the zeitgeist
Monday musings
Monday musings on Australian literature: Peril, and Asian Australian literature
A decade ago, I wrote a Monday Musings post on Asian-Australian literature, in which I named, as I often do in such posts, 5 Asian Australian writers. Given the increasing problems of discrimination faced by Asian communities in western countries alongside, perhaps paradoxically, the increased visibility of Asian Australian writing here, I thought an update … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Peril, and Asian Australian literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: A view from 1930
Today, another post in my occasional series of posts about Australian literature from the 1920s to the 1940s, this one featuring two critics of the time, HM Green (1881-1962) and Nettie Palmer (1885-1964). To do this, I'm using, primarily, a 1930 review in The Adelaide Advertiser of HM Green's book, An outline of Australian literature, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: A view from 1930
Monday musings on Australian literature: Commonwealth Writers Prize (now defunct)
March 8 this year is a packed one. Of course, it is always International Women's Day, but the second Monday in March is also Canberra Day here in the ACT, Labour Day in Victoria, and Commonwealth Day in, yes, the Commonwealth. It is not a public holiday in most places, but I decided it could … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Commonwealth Writers Prize (now defunct)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Mining in Australian fiction
I was inspired to write this post by Bill's (The Australian Legend) post on Catherine Helen Spence's novel Clara Morison whose subtitle is "a tale of South Australia during the gold fever". Mining is one of Australia's biggest industries. Iron, copper, coal, silver, gold, zinc, bauxite and opals have all played significant roles in Australia's … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Mining in Australian fiction
Monday musings on Australian literature: World Radio Day
2021 marks the tenth anniversary of World Radio Day. Hands up if you knew that? I didn't, even though I like listening to the radio, and do in fact listen to it most days. Some background An initiative, apparently, of the Spanish Radio Academy, World Radio Day was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011, and was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: World Radio Day
Monday musings on Australian literature: FAW Activities (1)
FAW, or, the Fellowship of Australian Writers, was established in Sydney in 1928. Its exact origins are uncertain but the Oxford Companion of Australian Literature believes that the poet Dame Mary Gilmore was encouraged by another poet Roderic Quinn, to hold a meeting of writers. Poet, critic and professor of literature John Le Gay Brereton became the president. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: FAW Activities (1)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Contemporary responses to Coonardoo
Ask and you shall receive, they say, and so when Lisa (ANZLitLovers) expressed interest in what Prichard's contemporaries thought of her novel Coonardoo, I thought I'd love to know too. However, I'm sure Nathan Hobby will cover this in some detail in his upcoming biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard. I don't want spoil that, so … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Contemporary responses to Coonardoo
Monday musings on Australian literature: Realism and Modernism
Now that's an aspirational title for you, and one that I will not live up to in terms of expectations. However, I wanted to write something for Bill (The Australian Legend)'s AWW Gen 3 Week (Part 2). As its focus is, primarily, Realism and Modernism in Australian literature from post-WW1 to 1960, and, as my … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Realism and Modernism
Monday musings on Australian literature: Selected early high country history
As some of you know, I am currently having a little summer break in Australia's high country, based in Thredbo in Kosciuszko National Park. This is an annual trek for Mr Gums and me, and I have written about it occasionally before. I thought I'd do so again for this week's Monday Musings, from an … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Selected early high country history
Whispering Gums 