A few weeks ago I wrote a Monday Musings about the Walkley Awards, noting some of the winners that particularly interested me. They included two awards for essays in the Griffith Review, one by Melissa Lucashenko, whose essay "Sinking below sight" I subsequently reviewed, and the other by Kathy Marks whose essay, "Channelling Mannalargenna" is … Continue reading Kathy Marks, Channelling Mannalargenna (Review)
English writers
Delicious descriptions from Down under: Jane Austen on politics
I was going to label this post "Jane Austen and plus ça change" but then decided to be provocative, because Austen is regularly criticised for not discussing politics, what was happening in her time, in her novels. Of course, I disagree that novelists have to specifically write about the political background to their stories. Those … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down under: Jane Austen on politics
Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, The novel cure: An A-Z of literary remedies (Review)
I don't usually blog about books before I've read them cover to cover, but I'm making an exception for Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin's The novel cure because it's one of those books that's best read in small doses (no pun intended). You see, it is a book of bibliotherapy, a book that recommends novels … Continue reading Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, The novel cure: An A-Z of literary remedies (Review)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the bodies (Review)
In her author's note at the end of her second Thomas Cromwell novel, Bring up the bodies, Hilary Mantel writes that: In this book I try to show how a few crucial weeks might have looked from Thomas Cromwell's point of view. I am not claiming authority for my version; I am making the reader … Continue reading Hilary Mantel, Bring up the bodies (Review)
Jane Austen’s letters, 1796-1800
For the past five years my Jane Austen group has been reading Jane Austen's letters in a rather higgledy piggdledy manner*. We have nearly finished now. We have just done her first letters, and next year we will conclude, logically at last, on her final letters. What a fascinating time we've been having. Jane Austen's … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1796-1800
Autumn and a favourite poem
I was lying in front of a sunny window reading my current novel this afternoon when an urge came upon me to write about one of my favourite poems. It's one of the few I can recite from heart. The poem is "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and it goes like this: To … Continue reading Autumn and a favourite poem
Happy 200th birthday to Pride and prejudice
It is a truth ... no, I can't go there but, just in case you haven't caught up with the news, I'm here to tell you that today, January 28, is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's most popular novel, Pride and prejudice. And so I've decided to give Monday Musings a break this week … Continue reading Happy 200th birthday to Pride and prejudice
What did Jane Austen look for in a novel?
There are those who don't get Jane Austen. Some think her novels are silly romances while others think that she writes stories about the well-to-do who, they feel, aren't relevant or worthy subjects. Nothing, really, could be further from the truth. Her novels may be romantic but they are more than simple romances. Jane Austen … Continue reading What did Jane Austen look for in a novel?
William Gilpin and travel photography
Yes, I know that William Gilpin, about whom I wrote in my last post, died before photography, though only just. He died in 1804 and, according to Wikipedia, the first permanent photograph produced by a camera was made in 1826. However, the notion of cameras - through the camera obscura - was already well known. … Continue reading William Gilpin and travel photography
William Gilpin, Jane Austen and the picturesque
I was introduced to William Gilpin by Jane Austen. Well, not by her so much as by her brother, Henry, who told us* that she was "enamoured of Gilpin on the Picturesque at a very early age". This month my local Jane Austen group decided to look a little more deeply at Gilpin, his Picturesque, … Continue reading William Gilpin, Jane Austen and the picturesque
Whispering Gums 