tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post5797496807325987264..comments2023-12-15T02:38:55.020+10:30Comments on Still Life With Cat: Biblical world view legitimised: Australian feminist icon turns in graveKerryn Goldsworthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-69896949981634596812009-07-09T17:33:57.687+09:302009-07-09T17:33:57.687+09:30It strikes me that some novels by women are disadv...It strikes me that some novels by women are disadvantaged even by their publishers. I'm thinking here of my friend Wendy James, whose second novel, _The Steele Diaries_ which I enjoyed even more than her very positively reviewed first, _Out of the Silence_ has had, in my opinion far less attention that it deserves, and was in the field for this years MF. Its cover is really pretty off-putting, suggestive of marketing that sees novels-for-women as a lower life form, identified by their sappy covers with images of wistful beauties gazing into the middle distance. I also loved _Vertigo_; found it far more subtle than either _The Slap_ of _Breath_. Related question: what's sex got to do with it? Most of the straight men in _The Slap_ seem ridiculously stunted and unimaginative to me. Is that the point -- i.e. is this a critique within the novel? Somehow I don't think so. I find it depressing that these much-praised works are devoid of a more imaginative eroticism, and attract epithets like 'daring' anyway.Felicitynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-54725780098272668532009-06-27T22:36:20.964+09:302009-06-27T22:36:20.964+09:30An unedifying conversation with a fundamentalist C...An unedifying conversation with a fundamentalist Christian seeking to convert me (and from the so-called Good News Bible, too; ew) has been removed from this comments thread. Any further comments from that person will be likewise removed.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-19497760780519227402009-06-24T19:26:25.326+09:302009-06-24T19:26:25.326+09:30Let us not forget the excellent decision in 2007 w...Let us not forget the excellent decision in 2007 when the Miles F went to Alexis Wright for her extraordinary novel <i>Carpentaria</i>. But by and large I agree that the winners over the last ten or fifteen years run depressingly true to the type sketched here by Michael W.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-42119630644600064192009-06-24T19:03:33.356+09:302009-06-24T19:03:33.356+09:30Michael W, John Hinde stumped up for the Barbara J...Michael W, John Hinde stumped up for the Barbara Jefferis Award. Which isn't quite equivalent to the Orange Prize, but for practical purposes it might as well be. In the current climate.lucy tartanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09244574932248425378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-77009559505486610132009-06-24T17:35:02.818+09:302009-06-24T17:35:02.818+09:30Le's first and last stories alone, for me, irr...Le's first and last stories alone, for me, irrevocably celebrate the author's Australian perspective and worldview more than enough to be seen as reflecting certain phases of Australian life. The Australian-set story in the middle only furthers this. <br /><br />That said, ultimately I think that the book's emphasis on embracing a range of voices and world views is its main drive, and as such it's an easy candidate for ineligibility under the Australianness clause.<br /><br />As for short stories, I've just double-checked and it seems my recollection was wrong. I thought the terms were 'work of the greatest literary merit' but the current entry form phrases the terms as follows:<br /><br /><b>The prize is directed to be awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and which must present Australian life in any of its phases.<br /><br />If there is no novel worthy of the prize in the opinion of the judges, then the Award may be given, at the discretion of the judges, to the author of a play for either stage, radio or<br />television or other such mediums as may develop, but not for<br />farce or musical comedy.</b><br /><br />Hence the absence of plays amongst previous winners: that's only the backup plan. I must double-check the will, but assuming the Trust is faithfully reproducing the terms, that's fairly unequivocal. No short stories. <br /><br />The novel the novel the novel.<br />(And if you read the same fine print as the judges it's only the <i>male, rural, historical, anglo</i> novel.)Michael Wnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-46779616479869515642009-06-24T16:34:05.543+09:302009-06-24T16:34:05.543+09:30Michael, I wondered about that too. Are you sure s...Michael, I wondered about that too. Are you sure short stories are eligible? There's also the consideration that many -- most? -- of the stories in <i>The Boat</i> have international settings and themes, IIRC, which may have counted for something if the book was considered otherwise eligible. But strictly off the top of my head, I don't think a collection of short stories has ever won or been shortlisted. I know this isn't true of at least one of the Premier's Prizes, though.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-51923548420991979252009-06-24T15:42:12.018+09:302009-06-24T15:42:12.018+09:30Similarly, Nam Le's excellent debut, The Boat...Similarly, Nam Le's excellent debut, <b> The Boat</b>, seems like an oversight for longlisting based on its status as a short story collection.<br /><br />Franklin's exact wording only ruled out 'musical comedy or farce', so one can fairly safely rule out any books about the prize's history.Michael Wnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-87702451556986061552009-06-24T14:16:38.651+09:302009-06-24T14:16:38.651+09:30Jodi, yes, they do. An awful lot of rubbish about ...Jodi, yes, they do. An awful lot of rubbish about the Miles makes its way into public discourse, for reasons I don't entirely understand. Any Aust Lit scholar or entry-level Googler can find out, or can tell you, the facts. But people persist in not checking.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-45588757561201540892009-06-24T14:09:55.311+09:302009-06-24T14:09:55.311+09:30If we can rant - the Miles Franklin has always see...If we can rant - the Miles Franklin has always seemed suspect to me since Hannie Rayson was nominated for her 2000 play 'Life After George' - and the lit pages seriously debated if she qualified for the prize because a play apprently wasn't a 'literary' work. Tell it to Miles Franklin, I say. I believe the terms of the bequest nominate either a play OR a novel, do they not? And yet that is the only time I recall there being a play in the mix. Strange, indeed.<br /><br />JodiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-55163191617811178362009-06-23T20:54:27.788+09:302009-06-23T20:54:27.788+09:30Oh well said Michael about the forgotten Thea. I h...Oh well said Michael about the forgotten Thea. I hadn't and realised that there was a good chance she'd be equalled this year. I was sad to see her feat equalled - if only because that will just help her along the road to obscurity - and then even sadder to see some commenters out there discount her wins as being equal to Winton's four because, after all, two of hers were shared!Sue Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11128625746717614768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-44947756605683361942009-06-23T17:01:28.824+09:302009-06-23T17:01:28.824+09:30Lovely post Kerryn, not least because I agree with...Lovely post Kerryn, not least because I agree with you!<br /><br />A brief rant of my own, inspired by that infuriating Morag Fraser/Radio National interview:<br />Fraser's claim that "if you were to look down the MF list since it was inaugurated in 1957... there's a very very strong representation of women" is laughable. Amongst previous winners (50 of them, given the award was not presented on 3 separate occasions), the award has been presented to women a paltry 13 times. Of those, on 3 occasions the prize was shared between two winners (to make sure a man got a look in). Allowing for multiple wins (Jessica Anderson, Thea "the forgotten four-time-winner" Astley) only nine different women have ever won the award.<br /><br />Barely a "very very strong representation". <br /><br />But as you so eloquently put it Kerryn, the galling thing isn't even the authors' genders; it's the enduringly male narratives that are privileged by this increasingly irrelevant award. <br /><br />Anyone fancy stumping up for an Australian Orange Prize?Michael Wnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-63091840734130326422009-06-23T10:28:26.162+09:302009-06-23T10:28:26.162+09:30I loved Breath but I also loved The Spare Room and...I loved Breath but I also loved The Spare Room and cannot comprehend why the latter wasn't longlisted.<br /><br />I agree with everything you say in this post!Nic Heathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529233257383927860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-8331379735214114082009-06-22T22:05:01.587+09:302009-06-22T22:05:01.587+09:30The terrible temptress'Eva' is bad enough,...The terrible temptress'Eva' is bad enough, but what really gets my goat is the even more overnamed surfer protagonist, Vic-Tim. Pshaw!<br /><br />-AnitaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-24754152404700789512009-06-22T13:39:32.346+09:302009-06-22T13:39:32.346+09:30Ah yes, the Duchess: treachery and apricots and lu...Ah yes, the Duchess: treachery and apricots and lumpy scansion. I remember it well. Poor old whatsername, plotted against at every turn.<br /><br />Suze, I wouldn't have gone for <i>The Slap</i> either, much as it is new and challenging and full of life, and I agree with much you say about Tsiolkas, including that Winton is the better stylist. I would have liked to see <i>The Good Parents</i> win it, or <i>Vertigo</i> or <i>The Spare Room</i>.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-3493213121028677562009-06-22T13:26:11.717+09:302009-06-22T13:26:11.717+09:30Having now read all these comments about the conte...Having now read all these comments about the content of Breath - which needless to say I never even considered buying due to previously stated opinion - I feel utterly vindicated in my opinion of Winton. Auto-erotic asphyxiation indeed. And, Ms Pavlov, I stand by my judgement of tedious. Surfing. Bah. And now I shall bow out and mark another paper on the Duchess of Malfi. Which may be the real source of the spleen. No, it's not. It's bloody Tim silly Winton.<br /><br />JodiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-27947400416256806112009-06-22T12:42:38.518+09:302009-06-22T12:42:38.518+09:30When I read Breath, I could see that it was beauti...When I read Breath, I could see that it was beautifully written, especially the teenage introspection and the surfing scenes, but it left me cold - and that's leaving aside Eva's sexual behaviour, which I think is a fabrication, deeply inauthentic in a book which cares about being authentic.<br />When I read The Slap, I found it a page-turner - I wanted to know what happened next. But I thought some of it was badly written, especially the initial long barbecue scene. And I thought it was a man's book - I very much agree with Lizzy that there was a "narratorial complicity" with the male characters. Tsiolkas has his eye on men all the way through - even in the scenes between the girlfriends, there are descriptions of male bodies (ie the waiters, the bar staff). <br />If we're talking TV adaptations, The Slap would be a soap opera - a hipper version of Neighbours.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17680687031479016392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-53303220655780672822009-06-22T12:17:58.233+09:302009-06-22T12:17:58.233+09:30FXH -- got it. Jodi, thanks -- I think it's th...FXH -- got it. Jodi, thanks -- I think it's the same one, but I'll check to make sure.<br /><br />I don't find Winton's writing tedious, though I'd far rather read Amanda Lohrey or Helen Garner or Kate Grenville and that's just staying in Australia. The first seven or eight pages of <i>Breath</i> literally took my, erm, breath away, not just because of its pace and drama and clarity, or because of the interesting stuff about the adrenalin rush addiction, but also because Winton really did seem to me to be branching out, with this <i>fantastic</i> damaged character getting his hands bloody in daily dramas and tragedies. So I was bitterly disappointed when the 50-year-old paramedic started reminiscing about <i>bloody surfing, yet again</i>,and continued to do so for the rest of the book. <br /><br />And that's quite apart from the deeply weird representation of women in Winton's work, which goes back a long way but seems to be getting worse as he gets older. The absent woman in <i>The Riders</i> is a wicked child-abandoner and man-upsetter, and there's a woman in <i>The Turning</i> who has a conversion to Christianity while she's being raped, something I don't trust myself to discuss. And now someone named for the wicked apple-eater who converts an innocent boychild to a sexual practice that no woman I've ever met or heard of (and I'm 56 and have met and heard of lots of women over the years) has ever had the remotest interest in.Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-29410038911848523992009-06-22T11:56:59.671+09:302009-06-22T11:56:59.671+09:30The Benjamin essay is The Storyteller: Reflections...The Benjamin essay is The Storyteller: Reflections on the works of Nikolai Leskov - it's in Illuminations. It opposes the idea of telling a story with the 'literary' novel - that's a horrible reduction of a complex argument - but anyway. That's the one I meant. And for the record, I can't stand any of Winton's books. I don't care how well he writes, the content varies only between tedium and being downright objectionable. La. Christos was robbed. <br /><br />JodiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-36369559978802589842009-06-22T11:47:29.928+09:302009-06-22T11:47:29.928+09:30Pav - I think I'm the only one who mentioned b...Pav - I think I'm the only one who mentioned blokeyness. It was my problem with the book - it may well have improved after I stopped reading.Francis Xavier Holdenhttp://landownunder.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-72261167438571649182009-06-22T09:48:26.269+09:302009-06-22T09:48:26.269+09:30I think we're just chopping words, at this sta...I think we're just chopping words, at this stage, talking about the difference between writers whose strength or focus is narrative shape and momentum, and those whose strength or focus is style. And there is a big difference. But I would like to read the Benjamin essay all the same -- is that the one where he talks about good prose having three stages?Kerryn Goldsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-34197714890361916582009-06-22T09:44:51.838+09:302009-06-22T09:44:51.838+09:30Winton has been adapted for the theatre - often. M...Winton has been adapted for the theatre - often. Most notably in the five hour version of Cloudstreet for Company B Belvoir. Toured nationally, and internationally. And the difference between a writer and a storyteller is - nothing, as Walter Benjamin knew all too well. Wrote as essay on the subject, if I remember correctly. <br /><br />JodiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-84356564605400096552009-06-21T17:03:20.287+09:302009-06-21T17:03:20.287+09:30I agree Kerry with your take on Eva. She's an...I agree Kerry with your take on Eva. She's an utter throwback and a simple symbol and all of that. But it doesn't surprise me to find a deeply problematic female character in a book written by a man. It is a constant issue. The portrayal of women in The Slap also really bothered me. They may be a bit 'nicer' than the men but they are objectified and diminished all the same, and not just by the relentlessly misogynist men in their lives. There is a narratorial complicity with those men, I felt. The way breastfeeding was used in the book was appalling. It was a symbol of the worst kind of lazy, self obsessed parenting and Rosie was little more than a sad cow with teats. As for the rest of the shortlist, I refused to read another book by Murray Bail after his Eucalyptus and the pathetic woman as chattel premise of that novel. I could go on and on....I've read all three of the books by women longlisted - and people claiming to be supportive of women writers should do the same. They all have very interesting females. Fugitive Blue deliberately underplays some traditional ideas about the male artistic canon, which I really appreciated, for example. Enough! Lizzy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-91237695955567961622009-06-21T15:18:55.155+09:302009-06-21T15:18:55.155+09:30Is this thread done or could Suze 'please expl...Is this thread done or could Suze 'please explain' her comment that Winton 'can write' and Tsiolkas is a 'storyteller'? <br /><br />Is that like Dickens compared with, say,Tolstoy, or what? <br /><br />My feeling is that Winton is writing about human beings (I won't say 'man') in relation to the vast cosmic universe thing, while Tsiolkas has his eye on the details of life and the reader can make the big connections; like the place of friendship in our society and the way it's breaking all apart and we just have to recognise that and live with it somehow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-54535656972263234352009-06-21T11:49:54.011+09:302009-06-21T11:49:54.011+09:30There is at least one film adapted from a PW work,...There is at least one film adapted from a PW work, it's based on a short story and it's called "The Night the Prowler".<br /><br />I've always thought "The Ham Funeral" would make a top movie, DOGMA-style perhaps.<br /><br />I think the mega literary prizes (Booker etc, perhaps the MF) do more harm than good, especially in the current environment where every tastemaker from the mainstream media to the big chain bookshops interprets them as a solid gold yardstick of Quality, as if that's an absolute value that has nothing to do with race, class, gender. <br /><br />Virginia Woolf thought women should refuse to accept honours and decorations because they're so thoroughly tainted with the logic of domination. I don't think that sort of separatist approach is actually a very good idea (partly because experience shows that it's the sort of protest that's supremely easy to ignore), but it would be nice to see a bit more public critical scrutiny of the invisible criteria that accords more moral weight and seriousness to certain subject matters and kinds of writing.lucy tartanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09244574932248425378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459693255389523642.post-75938082661226179502009-06-21T09:58:48.569+09:302009-06-21T09:58:48.569+09:30denesLast weekend I went to a screening of a 1975 ...denesLast weekend I went to a screening of a 1975 film 'Overlord', directed by an American guy called Stuart Cooper. Interestingly, he now owns the film rights to 'Voss' and reckons he's getting very close to getting it financed. He purchased the rights from Harry M. Miller when Miller was in a tight financial spot. 'Voss' almost got made years ago by the great director Joseph Losey. Judging from 'Overlord' I could see how Cooper might be the right director fro 'Voss', which seems to me to not be a very cinematic text. 'Overlord' is about the D-Day landings and mixes archival footage with a fictionalised story. It has a rather abstracted, dreamy use of imges and rhythm which could work well.Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14210474034971320200noreply@blogger.com