A couple of years ago I reviewed Gerald Murnane's The plains. I found it a mesmerising book, but a challenging one to fully get my head around, to grasp and hang onto what I'd grasped. Then a couple of days ago, I reviewed his memoir, Something for the pain: A memoir of the turf. It … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Gerald Murnane’s landscape and imagination
Landscape
Delicious descriptions: Clare Wright’s sources on the Australian landscape
While the focus of Clare Wright's The forgotten rebels of Eureka, which I recently reviewed, is the role of women in the Eureka Stockade, the book offers a wealth of wonderful insight into the times. As regular readers know, I have a specific interest in descriptions of landscape so I greatly enjoyed contemporary descriptions of the environment that … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Clare Wright’s sources on the Australian landscape
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape (3)
Back in August I wrote two posts (here and here) about the National Library of Australia's conference, Writing the Australian landscape. At the time I said that I would provide a link when the talks became available on-line. Well, they apparently went on-line a month or so ago and the NLA very kindly tweeted the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape (3)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape (2)
In this week's Monday Musings*, I plan to continue last week's discussion of some of the ideas that arose from the National Library of Australia's Writing the Australian Landscape conference. But first, I'll recap the two questions posed by the keynote speakers: Day 1, author Murray Bail suggested that only when we are at ease … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape (2)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape
This weekend just gone I had the privilege - well, I paid to go, but still it was a privilege - to attend a conference at the National Library of Australia titled Writing the Australian landscape. You can see why I had to go ... wild brumbies couldn't keep me away. But if, perchance, the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writing the Australian landscape
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Alan Gould on the Monaro (and thereabouts)
Monaro country after the 2003 fires While I love reading to escape to other places and times, other cultures and ways of being, I also enjoy reading about the familiar, about places I know and experiences I've had. Alan Gould, whose The lakewoman I reviewed recently, is a local writer. The lakewoman, in fact, is … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Alan Gould on the Monaro (and thereabouts)
Whispering Gums 