Ok, I admit it. This post's link to Australian literature is tenuous, but there is a link, even though it's not the subject of this post. The link is that the person who inspired this post, Ed Le Brocq, previously known as Emma Ayres, has written several books - memoirs, mostly - of which I've … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Your 7-year-old self
Commentary
Monday musings on Australian literature: Masterpieces of fiction, 1910-style
A straightforward post this week, and one shared in the spirit that readers love lists of books. This list is not Australian (despite my posting it in my Monday Musings series) but it was shared in multiple Australian newspapers in 1910 which makes it part of Australia's literary history, don't you think? The list was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Masterpieces of fiction, 1910-style
Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
I struggled with titling this post because I don't want it to sound like a thoroughly thought through treatise on the topic. However, I jettisoned my original plan for today's post to respond to Angela Savage's question on my CWF post on the Robbie Arnott interview because it seemed worth exploring. If you haven't read … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1923: 6, A postal controversy
Who would have thought that the cost of postage would generate controversy in the book world? And the sorts of issues that would be raised as a result? (Courtesy OCAL, via clker.com) In my research of Trove for book-related issues in 1923, I came across a letter to the editor opposing some proposed changes in … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1923: 6, A postal controversy
Monday musings on Australian literature: Weird fiction
All being well, my next post - or, a very near future one - will be on Chris Flynn's astonishing short story collection, Here be Leviathans. As I was reading it, I came quite serendipitously across Nina Culley's article titled "Weird is in", in Kill Your Darlings*. The article references Chris Flynn's collection and some … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Weird fiction
Monday musings on Australian literature: A question about things
A different sort of Monday Musings this week ... My reading group's June book is Edwina Preston's Bad art mother, which was published by Wakefield Press last year and which I'll be reviewing soon. (If you don't know it and are interested, you can check out Lisa's review.) It was shortlisted this year for the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: A question about things
Jane Austen on travel
It's been some time since I posted on Jane Austen, but currently my local Jane Austen group is repeating the slow reads we did a decade or so ago when her novels had their 200th anniversaries. Last year, we did Sense and sensibility, and right now we are doing Pride and prejudice. There are different … Continue reading Jane Austen on travel
On John Sinclair
Who is John Sinclair, you are probably asking? Those of you who read my last post, Shy love smiles and acid drops: Letters from a difficult marriage, may remember that he was the husband of the marriage in question, and father of the author, Jane Sinclair. However, as I briefly mentioned in that post, John … Continue reading On John Sinclair
Monday musings on Australian literature: Posthumous publishing
The literary world is replete with works published posthumously. Jane Austen had two completed works published after she died, but there are many many others including Kafka, Tolkien and more recent giants like David Foster Wallace. In some cases, the writer had finished the work but time or some other reason resulted in its not … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Posthumous publishing
Monday musings on Australian literature: Unfinished books (2)
"Literary history is replete with unfinished novels which ought never to have seen the light of day." (Alan Taylor, Scotland's The Herald.) Back in 2018, I wrote a Monday Musings post on unfinished novels. I was more interested there in why they were published and what the authors may have intended. This time, I'm focusing … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Unfinished books (2)
Whispering Gums 