The topic for my local Jane Austen group's March meeting was "Jane Austen in the trenches" which, I realise, sounds a bit anachronistic, given she died in 1817, nearly a century before the trenches we're talking about. But, you see, Jane's fame didn't start in 1995 with Colin Firth and that wet shirt. No, her … Continue reading Rudyard Kipling, The Janeites (#Commentary)
20th century literature
Capel Boake: Three short stories
Having written about Capel Boake in my last Monday Musings, I couldn't resist checking out some of her short stories. Bill's AWW Gen 2 Week concluded yesterday, but I hope he'll accept this post as a contribution. Boake's stories are easily accessible in Trove. In fact, I was spoilt for choice, so just picked three at random. … Continue reading Capel Boake: Three short stories
Katharine Susannah Prichard, Christmas tree (#Review)
Commenting on my recent post on Katharine Susannah Prichard's short story "The bridge", Prichard biographer Nathan Hobby, pointed us to an online version in Trove of her short story, "Christmas Tree", which he describes as the best of her early work. It's about farmers, droughts and banks. Seemed very appropriate (to us in Australia right … Continue reading Katharine Susannah Prichard, Christmas tree (#Review)
Katharine Susannah Prichard, The bridge (#Review)
Time for another post on a short story available online, but not, this time, from the Library of America. Indeed, it's not even American, but one of our own - Katharine Susannah Prichard's (KSP) "The bridge". As far as I can tell it has been published at least three times: in 1917 in the Weekly … Continue reading Katharine Susannah Prichard, The bridge (#Review)
EM Forster, Howards End (#BookReview)
Where to start? Like all great classics, EM Forster's Howards End has so much to think and write about that it's difficult to know where to focus, not to mention what new angle I could possibly add. Perhaps I'll just start at the beginning - with its epigraph, "only connect..." That's a concept that's sure … Continue reading EM Forster, Howards End (#BookReview)
Delicious descriptions: EM Forster and downsizing
My reading group's next book is EM Forster's Howard's end which I first read at university in 1973. (My lovely Penguin Modern Classics edition cost me all of $1.20.) It's a delicious read and I'm falling in love with Forster all over again. My full post on it will go up some time next week, … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: EM Forster and downsizing
Vance Palmer, Battle (#Review)
Vance Palmer's short piece "Battle" is the first piece in this special Meanjin anthology. Meanjin is one of Australia's longest lasting literary journals. It was founded by Clem Christesen in 1940. As publisher Melbourne University Press says, it has, since then, "documented both the changing concerns of Australians and the achievements of many of the … Continue reading Vance Palmer, Battle (#Review)
Randolph Stow, The merry-go-round in the sea (#BookReview)
Randolph Stow is a writer I've been meaning to read for the longest time - since, would you believe, the 1970s? Embarrassing, really, given his significance. My plan had always been to read his Miles Franklin award-winning novel To the islands first. However, the first I actually bought was The merry-go-round in the sea - back in … Continue reading Randolph Stow, The merry-go-round in the sea (#BookReview)
Elizabeth Jolley, Poppy seed and sesame rings (#Review)
In her introduction to Learning to dance: Elizabeth Jolley, her life and work, a book that was intended to comprise only non-fiction to create a sort of autobiography, literary agent Carolyn Lurie wrote that Jolley would sometimes "draw so directly on her life" for her stories "that it seemed illuminating to include a small selection of … Continue reading Elizabeth Jolley, Poppy seed and sesame rings (#Review)
Elizabeth Jolley, The orchard thieves (#BookReview)
Elizabeth Jolley's twelfth novel, The orchard thieves, is a little different from most of the other Jolleys I've read. It's a little less black, a little less about alienation, but it's unmistakably Jolley in style and preoccupations. By preoccupations, I mean her interest in family relationships and dynamics - and, related to that, her humane, … Continue reading Elizabeth Jolley, The orchard thieves (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 