Did you know there was an information highway in Jane Austen's day? Well, there was - and it was forged by roads and newspapers. This is the springboard for Dr Gillian Russell's talk, Everything Open: Newspapers in Jane Austen’s Fiction and Letters, which she gave to the Canberra group of Jane Austen Society of Australia this weekend. She … Continue reading The information highway, Jane Austen style
Commentary
BookSeer – is it for you?
What do Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice and Cormac McCarthy's The road have in common (besides the fact that I mentioned both authors in a recent post that is)? Nothing much, really, except that Amazon.com suggests that if you've read Pride and prejudice you may like to read The road. See, I was onto something … Continue reading BookSeer – is it for you?
Australian Classics Library
Am I the last to know? I have just discovered that Sydney University Press is publishing a new set of Australian Classics, using a grant from the CAL Cultural Fund. Each title has a newly written critical introduction and, in a nice bit of collaboration, some biographical and bibliographical information from AustLit. The titles - … Continue reading Australian Classics Library
Aboriginal women – sacred and profane
A regular column in The ABC Weekly, about which I have blogged a couple of times in recent days, was written by Australian writer Vance Palmer. I have only read one novel by Palmer - The passage - and have been feeling recently that I'd like to read it again partly, but not only, because … Continue reading Aboriginal women – sacred and profane
Florence James and journalism, 1940
Florence James, with Dymphna Cusack, wrote one of Australia's most successful novels set in World War 2, Come In Spinner. She was also a literary agent and journalist - and wrote regularly for The ABC Weekly which I referred to in a post a few days ago. In the 23 March 1940 issue was her article … Continue reading Florence James and journalism, 1940
Advice to would-be women journalists, 1930s style
While I was researching something completely different today, I came across a wonderful - you'll see why soon - article titled "Not much fun in being a woman journalist - or is there?" in the second issue of The ABC Weekly published on 9 December 1939 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The article was written by … Continue reading Advice to would-be women journalists, 1930s style
Home thoughts from abroad
Well, it feels like it's home thoughts from abroad as we've probably spoken to more non-Australians over the last ten days than Australians. And, interestingly, the highest proportion of those are not German as it seems to have been in the last decade or so but French. We spoke in more detail to one young … Continue reading Home thoughts from abroad
Climate change, ferals and Central Australia
While we generally prefer to go it alone, we did decide a few days ago, due to access challenges, to book onto an organised tour of Palm Valley. A good tour can work well and this one turned out to be one of the good ones – decent tour guide, uncrowded tour with congenial companions, … Continue reading Climate change, ferals and Central Australia
Some thoughts from Centralia
With daughter and dog minding the fort, Mr Gums and I headed out last weekend to Central Australia where we are spending ten or so days escaping the wintry south. It is an interesting place to visit, geologically, botanically and culturally; it is where we urban Aussies come across more indigenous people than we usually … Continue reading Some thoughts from Centralia
George Orwell, Books v. Cigarettes
We all do it! That is, we say we haven't got the time to do something or we can't afford something when in fact we really could if we changed our priorities. This idea is the inspiration for George Orwell's essay titled "Books v. Cigarettes" (written in 1946). It all started when a newspaper editor told him … Continue reading George Orwell, Books v. Cigarettes
Whispering Gums 