Murray Bail

Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers’ notebooks

/ Whispering Gums / 20 Comments

If you've attended writers festivals, you are sure to have heard writers talk of using notebooks to jot down ideas on the run, to record conversations overheard on public transport, cafes, etc, to capture the thoughts of the writers they read, and so on. These notebooks are not works of art in themselves, but part … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers’ notebooks

Murray Bail, Arthur Boyd, Art and Landscape

/ Whispering Gums / 29 Comments

Last year, I attended the National Library of Australia's two-day seminar, Writing the Australian Landscape, and wrote three posts about it, here, here and again here! In the first post, I wrote about Murray Bail's somewhat provocative keynote speech. What I didn't mention in my post was Bail's reference to Arthur Boyd's painting, titled "Interior with … Continue reading Murray Bail, Arthur Boyd, Art and Landscape

Delicious descriptions from Down under: Murray Bail on composers’ houses

/ Whispering Gums / 23 Comments

During our recent trip to Europe we managed to follow the trails of a few composers*. We saw statues of JS Bach, CPE Bach, Felix Mendelssohn and Ludwig van Beethoven. We visited Eisenach, where Bach was born and saw the church where he was baptised. We visited Leipzig, where he worked for 27 years and … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down under: Murray Bail on composers’ houses

Monday musings on Australian literature: Five fascinating fictional fathers

/ Whispering Gums / 26 Comments

This week's Monday musings has a personal, sentimental, genesis. Last Friday, my 91-year-old father underwent his third major abdominal surgery in 6 years. It's a big ask for an older body but he's hanging in there. My parents, not surprisingly I suppose, were instrumental in my becoming a reader. My mother introduced me to Jane … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Five fascinating fictional fathers