There I was all set to dive into reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell when I picked up Jane Gleeson-White’s lovely Australian classics: 50 great writers and their celebrated works. I had planned on perusing the first chapter, each of which is devoted to a musing on one work of our authors (with references to its place in the cannon, other works and a brief author biography), but just kept on reading. Along the way I compared my recollections of past favourites to her thoughts, and added many more to the TBR list. There are also contributions from many writers and other literary and artistic figures, who have provided a lists of their own favourites, many of which seem firm favourites beyond Gleeson-White’s choices.
Having attended a session on Australian Classics at this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, I knew that Geordie Williamson’s book entitled The Burning Library is soon to be published, so it seemed like an opportune moment to delve into the literary history of our nation. I’m so glad I did. What’s more, in a moment of pure serendipity, I spied that both Williamson and Gleeson-White are giving a talk at the NSW State Library on Wednesday 5 December, called ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reviving Australia’s Forgotten Women Writers’ (see here for more details and reserve your ticket for only $10). I quickly booked my place, certain that there can’t be too many more knowledgeable people to talk on the topic.
I won’t bore you with a blow by blow account of the stories. How she narrowed not just novels, but non-fiction, essay and poetry into a representative fifty is beyond me. Each deserves its place, from Robbery under arms by Rolf Boldrewood, through to Tim Winton’s ubiquitous Cloudstreet. For all the talk of sexual bias that still exists, women have contributed so much to our literary culture, and Gleeson-White does these women proud by lovingly recounting her views of their works (many of course having written numerous works of distinctive pedigree). The past is littered with:
- pseudonyms, used by both male and female writers too numerous to mention
- the imprint of authors’ autobiographical details
- relationships between authors, such as Joan Lindsey marrying a brother of Norman Lindsey, author of The magic pudding.
- convicts – His natural life by Manning Clarke
- bush-rangers – Robbery under arms by Boldrewood, Our sunshine by Robert Drewe, True history of the Kelly gang by Peter Carey
- itinerant folk down on their luck – and many itinerant authors too!
- girls and boys coming of age, as in Miles Franklin’s My brilliant career, plus others…
- Indigenous Australians finding their voice
- explorers disappearing – and not just in White’s Voss … Picnic at hanging rock anyone?!
- families thrown together (Cloudstreet – in a Lamb and Pickle sandwich!)
- tragedies, such as Grenville’s Lilian’s story, and others
- I could go on and on… Seven little Australians, The man who loved children, Grand days, Monkey grip… somebody stop me!
The poetry of Kenneth Slessor, Les Murray, Oodgeroo Noonuccal is celebrated, as are short stories, including Henry Lawson’s The drover’s wife, as well as my favourite ‘long’ story: Storm boy by Colin Thiele. There is room for non-fiction works, such as AB Facey’s A fortunate life and indigenous author Sally Morgan’s My place which focusses on the stolen generation, and The magic pudding children’s book by Norman Lindsey.
It is a wonderful companion to all these works and a must for any lover of Australian fiction. I am now determined to search out Gleeson-White’s other book on global classics (I know it includes Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, so there’ll be at least one I’ve read!). I can’t wait to read that. I also can’t wait to hear Geordie and Jane talk about some of the books I’ve just read about and no-doubt many others, and to hear which books might appear in Geordie Williamson’s fiction-only The burning library.
In the meantime, I’ve added quite a few of these Aussie classics to my TBR and they’ll feature strongly here over the coming year… I might even include some re-reads of old favourites too. The only difficulty is in deciding which to enjoy first!
Wonderful, I’m going to link these ‘musings’ to where I’ve recommended this book on my ANZ Books You Must Read page, off to do it now!
Thanks, Lisa!
On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 8:02 AM, Musings of a Literary Dilettante's
Oh, I’d love to be at that talk. I have a special interest in Australia’s women writers and have Debra Adelaide’s wonderful – though getting old now – bibliographic guide to Australian women writers. Such a treasure house there and not enough of them have yet been brought to the fore – Ada Cambridge, Rosa Praed, Tasma, to name just a few.
Love your post on this book too, which I dip into every now and then but have not read from cover to cover. I enjoyed your list of the aspects of Australian literature littering our past … and wonder how different, if at all, ours is from the literary past of other countries.
I’ll post something about the talk, Sue. Looking forward to it. As to the question of how unique our literature is, Christos Tsiolkas, in providing his classics for this book, said he didn’t think there was an ‘essential Australian writing, a new world reconfiguration of the English language equivalent to what Mark Twain did with *The adventures of Huckleberry Finn* or Richard Wright with *Native son*; or what Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges did with the Spanish language.’ Interestingly, his list contained some of the *same* novels that appear in Gleeson-White’s book (*Grand days* by Frank Moorhouse, *Lilian’s story* by Kate Grenville), as well as authors who have other novels listed, such as Patrick White (he opted for *The Twyborn affair *vs G-W’s *Voss*), Helen Garner (*The children’s Bach* vs G-W’s *Monkey Grip*), and Randolph Stow (*Tourmaline* vs G-W’s *Visitants*)… I take his point that having a list of identifiable authors is not necessarily the same as having a clear ‘Australianness’ in our written culture, but the fact that he has chosen similar authors suggests there might be some common threads. It’s a very intriguing question. I might ask it if I get the chance, come December. Cheers, John
On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 7:43 PM, Musings of a Literary Dilettante's
Oh good … I look forward to your report … and would love it if you get to ask the question but whether you do or not it’s one of those conversations we can keep on having isn’t it?
Absolutely!
On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Musings of a Literary Dilettante's
Hi John, thanks for your musings on this book. I actually picked it up recently and read the introduction (I’ve only dipped into it in the past) actually because I was a little frustrated by the tone of Geordie Williamson’s introduction for The Burning Library. I had every intention of reviewing TBL but I’m not sure I will, now, I just feel a little bit like I’m being lectured (and I don’t know how a reader would feel who isn’t already interested in Australian literature – would they even pick it up?). The chapters on the writers and ‘lost books’ themselves are fascinating, but the tone overall is a little off-putting. It’s hard to explain, but I’m hanging out for one of my blog friends (like you or the commenters above) to read it so we can perhaps have a discussion. I picked up JGL’s book and found that the tone was much more agreeable. She explains why she is the person to be writing such a book, whereas Williamson makes some very grand and broad claims about the ‘academy’ (and such), and it would seem more genuine to me to explore the issues’ origins as personal frustrations (that the reader may indeed share), instead of lecturing about these broad ‘crises’. I don’t know, it’s just a bit alienating, is all, when really he wants to draw you in and get you excited about these books! It seems counterproductive.
Sorry, this may not be the place to bring this up, I’ve just had it on the brain!
Angela
No apologies necessary – your comments are always welcome here, Angela! I haven’t yet picked up TBL, so can’t respond to the tone of it as yet. Like you, I’m looking forward to hearing the response to it. Having seen Geordie at a couple of Sydney Writers’ festival discussions over the last year or three, one thing he doesn’t lack is erudition. I’ve met other people who are very learned who have struggled communicating such gravitas. Maybe the fire he wanted to stoke in us is more brimstone than toasty-marshmallow? I’ll have to get me to a bookstore now, darn it 😉 John
On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 3:17 PM, Musings of a Literary Dilettante's
Thanks so much for this review, John, which I’ve just seen (and your passing thoughts on my Oz Classics intro, too, Ange!).
Have just found your wonderful blog, John, courtesy of your comment on my blog. Ah, the blogosphere.
Just to say: ‘Classics’ is out of print but I have some copies if you want one. I can bring it to the State Library on the Sleeping Beauties night if you’d like. (As a gift, not my sneaky way of trying to sell you a copy!)
Brilliant, Jane! Thanks for posting – I’m looking forward to seeing you and Geordie in December. Cheers, John.
[…] came upon Gerald Murnane when reading Jane Gleeson–White’s Australian Classics (see my review here). The Plains is one of the 29 novels to make Jane’s 50 classics. I have set myself the task of […]
[…] Jane, blogger at Bookish Girl and author of the very accessible Australian Classics (see my review here), and Geordie, chief literary critic at The Australian and author of the recently published The […]