Yes, come here for your wit. I bet I'm the first one to have thought of that line! SPUNC*, in case you haven't heard of them and you probably haven't, is the Small Press Network (in Australia). The acronym actually stands for Small Press Underground Networking Community. It was formed in Melbourne in 2006 and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: SPUNC has spunk
Monday musings
Monday musings on Australian literature: Two Australian icons
Donald Horne (1920-2005) and Geoffrey Blainey (b. 1930) are Australian icons, not only for their body of work - which is significant - but for phrases they coined which have become part of our national consciousness. Not all Australians today will know who coined them, but most will have heard the phrases themselves. The lucky … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Two Australian icons
Monday musings on Australian literature: The triumvirate
I've mentioned Marjorie Barnard in a couple of posts recently, but I suspect few Australians and even fewer readers from overseas (except of course Tony of Tony's Bookworld) have ever heard of her. Rather than write specifically about her, though, I thought I'd talk a little about the Australian literary scene of the 1920s to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The triumvirate
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
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
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?
Monday musings on Australian literature: the Great Australian Novel, or?
First, a confession. I am not one who believes we need to define such a beast as "The Great [name your country] Novel". However, just to be perverse, I thought that for this week's Monday musings it would be interesting to look at what might qualify for such a label - and, in doing so, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the Great Australian Novel, or?
Monday musings on Australian literature: A dry or not so dry continent?
It's rather ironic that in the last week or two when I've written a couple of posts about Australia's image* as a "sunburned land" (Barbara Hanrahan) or "sunburnt country" (Dorothea Mackellar), the image the world has been seeing is somewhat opposite - a raindrenched land. Then again, Dorothea Mackellar did also write that this is … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: A dry or not so dry continent?
Monday musings on Australian literature: Mountain murmurings
Mountain? Because this week's Monday musings was inspired by my recent sojourn in the mountains. Murmurings? Because it will be more pictorial than textual. And what does all this to have with Australian literature? Two things, primarily: My definition of "Australian literature" for this blog series is a broad one - it is intended to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Mountain murmurings
Monday musings on Australian literature: The King’s Speech (Movie)
I wasn't going to review The King's Speech, the current biopic about how Lionel Logue helped cure George VI's stuttering, because I mostly review Australian films. But, I do like a biopic and this film does have some Australian connections. These connections may not be particularly literary but, what the heck, at least one of the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The King’s Speech (Movie)
