There's something I haven't had an opportunity to share with you, until now that is - and that is that I love to visit wine regions. Not just because I like wine but also because I like the areas in which wine is made. The landscape is often beautiful, the wineries themselves vary so much … Continue reading Jeremy Chambers, The vintage and the gleaning
HL Mencken, The nature of liberty
I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again: I am enjoying being introduced to classic American writers of whom I've heard but not read through the Library of America. This week it is HL Mencken, and you can read his satirical piece, "The nature of liberty" (1920), online at LOA. Mencken (1880-1956), according … Continue reading HL Mencken, The nature of liberty
Monday musings on Australian literature: Charles Dickens and Australia
Here's something completely different for my Monday musings! Not an Australian author, not even a foreign born author who came to Australia (though, being the great traveller he was, he did consider a lecture tour), but Charles Dickens does have a couple of interesting "connections" with Australia. These connections are supported by the existence of … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Charles Dickens and Australia
Peter Temple, Truth
I think that every novelist has a single ideal reader (Stephen King, On writing) As I was reading Peter Temple's Truth I wondered whether I was Temple's "ideal reader". Somehow I think not. I am not a crime novel reader, but I did read and greatly like Temple's previous book, The broken shore, so why … Continue reading Peter Temple, Truth
JM Coetzee wins the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award
The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were announced last night, on the eve of the Brisbane Writers' Festival. The main award was won by JM Coetzee with Summertime, the third book in his fictionalised memoirs. The first two were Boyhood and Youth. I have this in my TBR but it has yet to arrive at the … Continue reading JM Coetzee wins the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award
Monday musings on Australian literature: Some Australian expat novelists
Australia is the only country I have come across that divides its writers into residents and those who have dared to live elsewhere. Can one imagine Americans writing of Ernest Hemingway, or the Brits of Auden, thus? (Carmen Callil, Australian-born founder of Virago Press) That answers one of my questions: that is, whether other nations … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Some Australian expat novelists
Arnold Jansen op de Haar, King of Tuzla
Translated works always represent a challenge. There is something slightly disconcerting about knowing that you are not reading the actual words of the author, but someone else's interpretation of them. There's been some discussion of this around the blogs and in the media this year, partly because of the publication of Why translation matters by award winning … Continue reading Arnold Jansen op de Haar, King of Tuzla
Dinaw Mengestu, An honest exit
There are, I suppose, two exits in Dinaw Mengestu's short story "An honest exit", which you can read at The New Yorker. One is the exit the father in the story made, when a young man, from his home in Ethiopia and the other is his final exit from life. (No spoiler here: we are … Continue reading Dinaw Mengestu, An honest exit
Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a radical
I'm not going to beat about the bush but tell it like it is: I absolutely gobbled up Kate Jennings' Trouble: Evolution of a radical: Selected writings 1970-2010. It took me a fortnight to read it, partly because I've been pretty busy but also because there was so much to savour and take in that … Continue reading Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a radical
Ah, sweet synchronicity of life!
Ok, I know that "synchronicity" doesn't really scan with "mystery" but it just felt right. Last night, wearing one of my hats, I attended the National Film and Sound Archive's event, Coo-ee: Sound Day: Sounds of Australia 2010. (Phew, that's a mouthful isn't it?). Sounds of Australia is an NFSA initiative aimed at creating a … Continue reading Ah, sweet synchronicity of life!
Whispering Gums 