Only Happiness Here | Gabrielle Carey #AWW

 

Gabrielle Carey, with this book about Elizabeth von Armin, had the honour of being the very first author event by zoom, that I participated in during this Covid year. Also in attendance was Lisa from ANZLitLovers, who had alerted me to the event in the first place. It was lovely to be able to wave hello to someone I knew before proceedings started proper. For a thorough account of the author talk, please read Lisa's post here.

I had not read Only Happiness Here prior to the event, but it was high on my list for AusReading Month possibilities. By the end of the discussion, though, with Jessica White, it had moved up to be next on the pile! As had my desire to read Elizabeth and Her German Garden. 

Only Happiness Here refers to the sign that Elizabeth von Armin had over the door of her Swiss chalet. As Carey states in her book, Elizabeth may have been one of the 'earliest proponents of positive psychology.' It was this approach to happiness that attracted Carey. Enough so for her to reread all twenty-one of von Armin's books before embarking on a trip to the British Library to read her letters and diaries as well.

This is very firmly in the camp of biblio-memoir or bio-memoir. Carey is very much a part of the story, as she rereads the books and interprets what she finds there. It is also her personal search for happiness and peace of mind, as she delves into von Armin's life, looking for clues or signs on how to be happy. 

My quest was about how to understand Elizabeth's temperament and her way of seeing things, how she maintained such buoyancy, such apparent relish of daily living.

She eventually hits upon nine Principles of Happiness According to Elizabeth von Armin - freedom, privacy, detachment, nature & gardens, physical exercise, a kindred spirit, sunlight, leisure and finally, creativity. 

Carey developed each principle into a chapter or section that interspersed von Armin's writing with known facts about her life. Of which, there are not as many as a biographer would usually like. This was all part of von Armin's desire to remain very private, and happy. Towards the end of her life, she burned a large number of her 'notes and diaries in what she referred to as "the holocaust"'. Which, naturally, leads the rest of us to surmising stuff about how she felt and thought via the actions and words of her characters. 

So the first fact many of you may not know about Elizabeth is that she was born in Australia. In the prestigious suburb of Kirribilli in Sydney, to be precise, on the 31st August, 1866. She was christened Mary Annette Beauchamp, and known as May by her family and friends. Her home for the first three years of her life was most likely Beulah House (converted into an apartment block in 1908 and now only remembered by the name of nearby Beulah St and wharf). I've said it before, but Australians are hopeless at commemorating the birth places and homes of our well-known authors.

Her father, Henry Heron Beauchamp, came from an artistic, well-to-do family in London. He emigrated to Australia in 1850 to set up a business as a shipping merchant. His business thrived and in 1855 he married Elizabeth Weiss Lassetter (known as Louey). All six of the Beauchamp children were born in Sydney.

One of Henry's brothers, Arthur, moved with his young family to New Zealand in 1869. His son Harold is the father of Katherine Mansfield, making May and Katherine first cousins once removed. Katherine's last letter, before her untimely death, was to her cousin May.

In 1870, Henry and his Lassetter brother-in-law, decided to move their families back to the Continent. Enjoying three years in Switzerland together, before settling in London.

As May got older, she kept her Australian heritage very quiet. Any odd accent or 'twang' that people noticed in her voice, she would put down to 'Irish connections'.

Being a 'colonial' in class-conscious England was not much fun and could often be a hindrance to making one's way into good society. Curiously, this slur of the 'convict stain' still loomed large in the imagination of many of the Brits that I got to know in the year I lived in London (1991). I imagine that the 'good-natured' ribbing I received was a watered down version of attitudes a hundred years prior.

Carey wonders if May's 'awareness of her Australianness (was) just another one of Elizabeth's deep secrets?'

She married Count Henning August von Armin-Schlagenthin on the 6th February, 1891, effectively becoming a Prussian Countess overnight. She had three daughters in quick succession - Eva (1891), Elisabeth (1893) and Beatrix (1894), after which, the Count was apparently banished from her bedroom...until 1899 when Felicitas was born, then Henning-Bernd in 1902.

At the beginning of 1898, she sent her first manuscript, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, off to the publishers. It was published in September of that year under the pen-name, Elizabeth. After an initial celebratory remark in her diary, the following days were scrawled angrily with 'rows with H'. May never provided any detail about these rows, which leaves the reader to look for clues in her novels.

If happiness was something she often enjoyed privately, depression was also something she believed should be borne individually....Elizabeth believed that sharing misery only increased the gloom and risked infecting others. 

We know some of the basic facts about the less happy times in Elizabeth's life - the Count's arrest for embezzlement, the death of Felicitas as a teenager, her fear of ageing, the loss of their family home in Pomerania and Henning's sudden death in 1910 - but not how May felt about them. Once again, the only clues are in her books when her characters go through similar experiences.

Despite times of depression and sadness, May continued to find joy and solace in nature, especially gardens and appreciating beauty.

The rest of her books where published with the tag 'by the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden' causing a lifetime of supposition and speculation in literary circles, although her friends, like E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells and Bertrand Russell, were well aware of her writing.

I finished Carey's book with a very strong desire to get to know May better. I will try to source her two more recent biographies, but in the meantime, I will start at the beginning of EvA's oeuvre with Elizabeth and Her German Garden, which will have the happy coincidence of counting for an #AusReadingMonth title as well as the #NovNov challenge.

Did Carey also find happiness in the end?

Like the rest of us, and like May, the answer is yes and no.

The trick, it seems, is to focus on the happy.

Not long after, the lockdown was announced and during the weeks of working from home, I took to having lunch under the frangipani tree. Oftentimes, following my salad and cheese and seeded bread, I stretched out on the picnic blanket, and as the world turned in turmoil, I lay in the dappled sunlight pretending I was Elizabeth von Armin.

Facts:

• The International Society Devoted to Scholarship on Elizabeth von Armin has some amazing articles and essays, including the one that led me to them, Family Life on Kirribilli Point in the 1860's: The Enigma of Elizabeth's Birthplace (Jennifer Walker, posted October 27. 2019). This piece includes a copy of G W Peacock's Government House ca 1850, which when blown up to expose the background, we can clearly see Beulah House and its gardens.
• There is a 1958 biography by one of her daughters, Elizabeth of the German Garden.
• Another in 1986 by Karen Usborne, Elizabeth the Author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden.
• And again in 2013 with Jennifer Walker's, Elizabeth of the German Garden - A Literary Journey.

Elizabeth von Arnim Monument in Buk, Poland

#AusReadingMonth2020

Moving Among Strangers by Gabrielle Carey

Writing regularly blog posts seems to be something quite beyond right now. But thanks to Karen @Booker Talk I've be revisiting some of my older posts to find fresh inspiration. This post about the rather silent author, Randolph Stow, was originally published on the 29th August 2015.

I've been thinking about Gabrielle Carey a lot, over the past 24 hrs, after learning that she has a new book coming out in October with University of Queensland Press about Elizabeth von Armin called Only Happiness Here. 

Her website explains that von Armin has been one of her literary passions for quite some time, and like me, Carey is amazed that this Australian born writer (along with her cousin, Katherine Mansfield) is so little known and appreciated here. 

New Zealander's have done a much better job of being loud and proud about Mansfield. Admittedly, von Armin only lived in Australia for the first three years of her life (whereas Mansfield grew up in NZ before moving permanently to Europe). But given our tendency to claim famous folk with far less tenuous links than that, it's curious that we have been so silent on our relationship with von Armin.

I want to know more about the friendship and authorial support that existed between von Armin and Mansfield and how they influenced each other. And I'm keen to find out why Carey is so fascinated by von Armin. Weaving together the biography of an author with her own personal reflections was one of the things I really enjoyed about her Randolph Stow book. 

It has stayed with me for five years now. 

Given how many books pass through my hands each year, for one to stick in my memory so clearly, says something about the strength of the story within, as well as it's ability to get under my skin.

So I give you a slightly revised and updated look at my 2015 post for Moving Among Strangers.

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Honouring Randolph Stow event at the NSW Library.

The Honouring series is the brainchild of my friend Julia Tsalis, the Program Manager at the NSW Writers Centre. 

On their website she says:

Sometimes we forget about the great when revelling in the new. In its annual Honouring Australian Writers series, the NSW Writers’ Centre pays tribute to writers who have made an important contribution to our literary culture.  

In 2015 we turn to the West Australian writer Randolph Stow. Perhaps best known for The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea and To The Islands, which won the Miles Franklin Award, Australian Literary Society Gold Medal and the Melbourne Book Fair Award in 1958. He was also awarded the ALS Gold Medal for his poetry in 1957 and won the Patrick White Award in 1979.  

A writer fond of silence, known for the metaphysical and existential qualities of his writing but also a master at evoking the Australian landscape, Randolph Stow embodied contradictions. Geordie Williamson, says of him in The Burning Library, ‘In him, as in no other non-indigenous writer in our literature, landscape and mindscape are one.’  

Honouring: Randolph Stow brings together Gabrielle Carey, author of Moving Among Strangers a memoir about her family’s connection to Stow, Suzanne Falkiner whose biography will be released in 2016, Richard Tipping a poet and producer of a documentary on Stow, and West Australian author Alice Nelson (The Last Sky) whose career has been inspired by him.

In preparation for the event, I read Gabrielle Carey's Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family.

Carey's award winning book is a curious, but very pleasing mix of family memoir and grief journal as well as a homage to little known Australian author and poet, Randolph 'Mick' Stow.

I say little known, because when I told family, friends and colleagues (yes, even colleagues!) where I was going today. Only a couple of them had heard of Stow.

My relationship with Stow is not much better. I've only read one of his books and that was his children's story about Midnite, the not-so-bright bushranger and his talking cat. The talking cat put me off too much to ever really enjoy it properly though!

But, like Carey, I do seem to have this fascination for Australia's long lost, forgotten authors.

I'm curious about why we, as a nation, do not seem to celebrate, embrace or cherish our award winning, highly acclaimed authors.

Their childhood homes do not become museums.

No "so and so was born here" plaques pop up on suburban streets and rarely do they have university or school wings named after them. They're lucky to have a street named in their honour!

Carey echoes my concerns in her book when she reminds us that:

Other countries seem to be able to preserve significant writers' houses - why are there so few in Australia?

However, after the Honouring Randolph Stow event today, I wonder if part of this lack of recognition starts with the authors themselves.

All four panelists spoke of Stow's famous silence.

Suzanne called it his "authorial invisibility". 

Richard told us how Stow had said, "writers are writers because they're not talkers." 

And Alice quoted poet Louise Gluck's "eloquent deliberate silence" to describe Stow's personality.

Meanwhile Carey's tender memoir is an endless parade of Stow's reticence and quietness which she sums up towards the end by saying,

Stow's silence doesn't appear to have been an unfriendly one. His temperament and philosophical bent both point towards a faith in silence and deep doubt about language.

 

This is not someone searching for the limelight or to have his name forever blazoned across the skies. His story writing and poetry were personal, they were part of his search for home. Home, for Stow, was not one house or place either.

Maybe we don't need to make a fuss about his childhood home or where he went to school, except of course, there is no denying, that it is these things, these places of our childhoods that shape us is so many ways, consciously and unconsciously.

Stow himself also said (in reference to Joseph Conrad) that "I think one does need to know a great deal - well, a certain amount, anyway, about an author's life...and not only what he chooses to have known."
(my highlight).

So, what have I learnt about Stow in the past week?

He could speak and read about five languages, he was fascinated by the Batavia wreck (so much so that he taught himself to read Old Dutch so he could research the source materials), he loved to read Conrad and Joyce and he 'wrote' his books in his head whilst walking and only physically wrote them down once he had it complete in his head. Sadly, he had two such books in his head when he died. 

Stow also had an incredibly mellifluous voice (not unlike Princes Charles but with an Australian undertone) that we heard thanks to the resurrecting of Richard Tipping's interview with Stow from the 1988 film A Country of Islands. More than preserving old homes and the placing of plaques, we need to ensure that archival films and interviews like this are conserved for future reference. The 8 minute excerpt we heard today was one of the highlights of a stimulating afternoon.

I look forward to reading one of Stow's adult novels (now republished by Text Publishing) or seeing one on the big screen soon. I also highly recommend Carey's memoir for those who love their family memoirs and author biographies entwined in a happy embrace.

• The 2020 Honouring Event will be for Katherine Susannah Prichard on the 22nd August.
• Carey also has a biography about Ivan Southall called Falling Out of Love With Ivan Southall that sounds intriguing.

Eden's Outcasts by John Matteson

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. I started reading it in 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed the early part - Matteson wrote a very thorough and in-depth look at Louisa's childhood. But the font was small and things began to get difficult thanks to Bronson Alcott.

By half way through I had begun to actively dislike him. The family's time at Fruitland's was a turning point for me. Bronson's selfish, grandiose, madcap ideas had HUGE impacts on the rest of his family, who had no choice but to follow along.

My anger at his irresponsible actions, was unreasonable, I grant you, at this distance of two hundred years, but it was there, irrational or otherwise, and enough to stop me reading. For two years! Until the latest CC Spin spun me this book.

After such a long break, the story felt rather stale and I resisted picking it up again, until January. What to do next?
Start again? or pick up where I left off?

I tried picking up where I left off, but found myself a little confused. So I sat down with the first half of the book and all my underlining, to make some notes. I skimmed through and added jot points to this post to help me remember some of the important or interesting to me events.

At this point, I also realised that writing a review for this book was not going to just be about my journey with the book. If after only two years, I had forgotten most of what I had read earlier, then this post was going to have to be a place where I could keep my notes for future reference.

I already knew that this book was not going to be a keeper. I will not be rereading it at any point going forward. It will be passed on to others as soon as this post is finished. But the next time I reread Little Women, I may want to refer to some of the facts and thoughts presented in this bio.

For instance, both Louisa and her father, shared the same birthday, November 29 - 33 years apart and they died in the same year, 1888, not quite two days apart.

For Bronson,

• 'Life was a persistent but failed quest for perfection'.
• 'He believed that people had been given their weaknesses in order that they might triumph over them'.
• reform & redemption
• puritan 'nature was my parent'
• meager schooling - borrowed his cousins copy of The Pilgrim's Progress to commit 'favourite portions to memory' 
• "dear, delightful book"
• 'only the spirit that truly mattered'
• 'Bunyan's allegory was pivotally responsible for shaping Bronson's ideas of right conduct.'
• 'organised religion failed to bind him to its forms and dogmas'
• 'He never accepted the idea of Jesus as the Son of God' - he was a "superb specimen of humanity".'
• didn't pray
• thought that 'writings of Confucius, the Bhagavad Gita, and other Eastern texts should be combined with the New Testament to create an ecumenical "Bible for Mankind".'
• asceticism
• believed in his own genius 'the faith that he was both right and righteous became essential to Bronson'
• aversion to cruelty 
• only used corporal punishment as a 'regretted last resort'
• 'governed his students not by threats but by conversation, appealing to their feelings and sense of justice'
• believed that children 'possessed a collection of faculties that developed at different rates over time'
• Socratic dialogue was the 'chief avenue to the mind and soul of the child'
• influences - William Russell, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Plato - emphasising 'spirit of body'
• 'wholly immersed in the spiritual growth of his daughters'
• never understood the value of humour
• transcendentalist - Peabody, Emerson, Hedge, Thoreau
• 'he read not to absorb new ideas but to be confirmed in what he already knew'
• 'he had no ability whatever to set aside his own personality and enter into the lives and situations of others'
• 'could barely tolerate dissent of any kind'
• refused work that 'offended his moral principles'
• believed that 'Providence would rescue him'
• Fruitlands 'everyone agreed on the natural beauty of the farm. The improvements were another matter'.
• 'all should live according to the dictates of their own spirit' unfortunately everyone at Fruitands 'had a particular view of truth and righteousness.'
• 'The world had no good yardstick for measuring Bronson Alcott. His inspirations seemed saintly to some and deluded to others.'
• Hillside home became a station on the Underground Railroad
• affected by strange 'hallucinatory thoughts'
• 'Like many grandparents, he was evidently more at ease with his grandchild than he had been with his own offspring.'
• several speaking tours of the Midwest where he found '"the true American spirit.'"
• Tablets (1868) 'he reflected not on what adults might consciously do for children, but rather on what children unconsciously do for us.'
• 1879 collaborates to create a philosophical college in Concord offering a summer course of lectures.
• 1882 suffers a massive stroke.

The Alcott family and Orchard House around 1865 (Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association)

Louisa

• middle daughter
• defiant
• energetic
• resistant to discipline
• first surviving journal dates from the Fruitlands period
• Hillside first time she had a bedroom of her own.
• 'However much Emerson meant to Bronson during this time, he meant still more to Louisa, who found in him both a literary idol and a sympathetic ear.'
• 'These Hillside years correspond to the adolescence celebrated and fictionalised in Little Women'
• "Money is never plentiful in a philosopher's house, and even the maternal pelican could not supply all our wants on the small income which was freely shared with every needy soul who asked for help"
• family held together by shared narrative 'the tales they shared of their daily lives formed a bridge of sympathy and shared effort'.
• wrote The Inheritance - 'one can be both loyal to family and virtue and defy one's parents' wishes at the same time.'
• all her fiction is a 'plea for understanding the difficult process by which both characters and author must work out the ambiguities of personality and right behaviour'.
• 'Instead of looking for an alternative to her father, she apparently craved a better version of him'.
• Lizzie's death and Anna's betrothal affected her deeply. She believed that the soul of Lizzie was 'powerfully with her' and these trials brought her closer to the "Almighty Friend".
• 'the search for artistic excellence also involved a chaotic descent' like a whirlpool
• 1861-62 at the home of James Fields met - Longfellow, Fanny Kemble, Olive Wendell Holmes Sr & Harriett Beecher Stowe
• 1862 became an army nurse until she contracted typhoid pneumonia.
• Dr's gave her mercurous chloride (now known to be highly toxic and poisonous) to treat her illness which meant 'the last 25 years of her life were the history of glacially slow mortal illness'.
• Hospital Sketches (1863) 'popular beyond Louisa's highest expectations'.
• 1865 travelled to Europe as a travelling companion for the infirmed daughter of William Fletcher Weld.
• possible love affair with Ladislas Wisniewski in Italy (& one of the inspiratioons for Laurie in Little Women).
• Little Women (1868) 'put a permanent end to the real Alcott family's days of chronic want. Flush with royalty cheques, Louisa paid all the family's debts, and, to her astonished delight, had money left over to invest.'
• 1879 Louisa and May sail to Europe with a friend. Anna's husband, John Pratt died suddenly whilst they were gone.
• 'After she heard this news...,her writing took on a new purpose: both the spirit and the proceeds from this new novel must belong to the two "little men" who had been left without a father'.
• 1877 Abba dies.
• 1878 May marries in London but dies the following year due to complications after child birth - her dying wish was for Louisa to raise her daughter, Lulu.
• Louisa sells Orchard House after Bronson's stroke, so they could move to a warmer cottage in Nonquitt, Massachusetts.
• Jo's Boys published 1886 'its elaboration of Louisa's ideas on women's rights' and 'to be useful is to be blessed'.
• 1887 LM became a patient of Dr Lawrence's convalescent home in Roxbury.
• "At 55 one doesn't hope for much."
• 1st March 1888 visited Bronson, "I am going up. Come with me" LM: "I wish I could." He died three days later. The same morning, before news of her father's death could reach her, LM began to feel feverish and slipped into a coma.
• LM died 'barely forty hours after Bronson's death' 6th March 1888, the day of Bronson's burial.
• 8th March LM buried.
• LM adopted Anna's younger son, John before her death so that he could inherit her copyrights 'these he held as a trustee, dividing the income with Lulu, his brother Fred, and his mother.'

pg 307 

It has been suggested that the unyielding asceticism of Louisa's parents was a harmful force in her personal development. However, it may be argued with equal good faith that the staunchness with which they encouraged her to confront her inner failings was precisely what kept her sane.

I'm glad I pushed through my early dislike for Bronson. He never really outgrew his selfish, thoughtless ways, but there can be no doubt about the love he had for his family and the genuine affection and connection that existed between Bronson and Louisa.

Our families influence us, for good and bad, our entire lives. Our childhood experiences shape the adults we become. Matteson's biography explores this idea very thoroughly, with oodles of historical detail and recourse to primary sources. As he states at the end, it is impossible for those of us coming after, to know the everyday, unrecorded moments that make up any relationship.

pg 428

The life written is never the same as the life lived. Journals and letters tell much....But the bonds that two persons share consist also of encouraging words, a reassuring hand on a tired shoulder, fleeting smiles, and soon-forgotten quarrels. These contacts, so indispensable to existence, leave no durable trace. 

However, his award winning biography does a magnificent job of showing us everything else.

Susan Bailey has a most impressive blog all about Louisa called Louisa May Alcott is my Passion.

My Little Women review
My Good Wives review
My Little Men review
My Jo's Boys review

Sydney Writer's Festival - Part 3 and a Half

It's time to bring this baby home!

My final sessions and thoughts about this year's Sydney Writer's Festival.

Town Hall, Sydney - Vivid-style

On Friday evening, Mr Books and I went into Town Hall to hear George Saunders, Colson Whitehead, Mona Chalabi and Julia Turner discuss the topic American Carnage. The term references the point in Trump's inaugural speech when he said, 'the American carnage stops right here, right now.' The ideological divide and 'trusted' information sources being the central themes.

Sadly all four struggled to get their thoughts together and present a coherent, compelling discussion. Perhaps they were jetlagged or tired of talking about this subject or being seen as spokesmen for their entire country. But I wondered if the rather shambolic nature of this discussion also represented how muddled many Americans feel right now. Four months has not been long enough to get their heads around the new world order they are living under.

Saunders suggested the divide was like a castle. Some people imagine a castle and automatically bring to mind a Game of Thrones style castle; others see a Monty Python one.

Chalabi talked about the problems of predictive journalism and how quickly things become 'normalised'. Given they were talking at a SWF event, I would have liked more insight into how it was that Trump managed to be the one to tell the most compelling stories.

Are compelling stories simply those that tell the reader/listener what they want to hear? Or are they the stories that make the reader/listener stretch, grown and learn?

Mr Books and I shared a lively chat on the way home about the difference between Australian politics and American. It was very clear at the beginning of the talk that the Australian audience was very proud of our mandatory voting system which forces everyone to engage in the political process.

I wonder if the talk would have had more direction and structure if there had been a non-American on the panel?

Saturday morning was another glorious autumnal morning in Sydney. I only had one session booked for 3pm, but I went in a couple of hours early to soak up the atmosphere. I enjoyed a chat with a friend and a coffee in the sun before heading into one of the free events featuring Peter Polites author of Down the Hume.

Gay crime or queer noir is not my usual fare, but Polites gave me a lot of food for thought re our class system and political philosophy. He showed that rises in noir writing occurred during times of economic change. The problems of economic casualisation were explored, although he nearly lost me when he declared that 'if Henry James were alive today he would watch Real Housewives of Sydney.'

The session I was looking forward to the most was with Nadja Speigelman.

She didn't disappoint.

Speigelman is articulate, funny, generous, thoughtful, open, honest and gracious. Everything I loved about her memoir, I'm Supposed to Protect You From All This, was on display in person.

The talk was led by Abigail Ulman, who I had never come across before. However, she thoroughly impressed me with her ability to listen carefully and ask knowledgeable questions that guided the conversation naturally. She was granted a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University and won the 2016 SMH Best Young Novelist Award. I will now be on the lookout for her story collection, Hot Little Hands.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling rather exhausted, but I pushed through the pain barrier and headed out the door.

Yet another sunny day on the harbour; more autumnal book bliss; and another coffee break whilst soaking up the glorious sunshine.

It's a hard life, but someone has to do it!

I started the morning with a panel celebration of Melina Marchetta's YA classic, Looking For Alibrandi. Can you believe it's 25 years?

The discussion was modelled on the Have a Say Day section of the book where Josie and Jacob meet. Various authors and actors had their say with Alibrandi being the central idea on which to talk. Pia Miranda hosted the panel that included Melina herself, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Mark Di Stefano, Gen Fricker, Brodie Lancaster and Rajith Savanadasa.

Between them they covered the immigrant experience, feminism, cultural biases, guilty pleasures, embarrassment, love and the importance of seeing ourselves in stories.

My final session for the festival was one of the big ones. Lion: A Long Way Home featured Saroo and Sue Brierley talking about their experiences with adoption, being lost, then found and their journey into the book and movie world.

I have managed to avoid every single interview and review of this book and movie, yet I know all about it. I don't like feeling like my emotions are being manipulated towards a certain state. Every article or chat show seemed to have it's own angle or agenda, so I kept them all at bay.

Having the opportunity to see and hear Saroo and his adoptive mum, Sue, in person felt like the only authentic way to get their story. Naturally they have their own angles and agendas, but it's their story, and I could live with that.

Saroo honoured the three amazing women in his life. The woman he lost (& who waited for him to return one day), the woman who found him on the streets of Calcutta and helped and the woman who raised him to be the man he is today.

His journey is an incredible one and I now feel ready to watch the movie.

I have never spent so much time at one festival before.
It was exhausting, in an over-stimulated kind of way.

The rest of my experiences can be found below.

Part 3 - Public Transport Rant
Part 2 - Thursday
Part 1 - Opening Night Party

Overall, it felt like a mixed bag.
I didn't come away with a long list of new authors or new books to read like I have in previous years. But I didn't see many of the free talks this year...and that's where I have found the hidden gems in the past.

I enjoyed some of the talks - a lot.
But some left me underwhelmed.

When you can pay up to $35 for a ticket, you expect more for your buck. You expect little pearls of wisdom and surprising insights. You expect thoughtful questioning and attentive conversationalists.

I attend writer's festival to learn something new; not to be told the same stuff I already knew because I had read the book. An interviewer or moderators job is to bring out the best in their panel. This is a skill and not everyone displayed it this year.

Next festival I plan to see more of the free events to see if I can find the love again.

Sydney Writer's Festival - Part 2

Thursday at the Sydney Writer's Festival was another glorious May day in the sunshine. Over breakfast I planned my session times. Two were pre-booked and paid, but I also hoped to fit in the free session called And the Award Goes To....

Setting out on the ferry in the morning was a tad crisp, but the view coming into Circular Quay is always worth any wind-chill factor that goes with sitting at the front.

My first session, Do We Turn Into Our Mothers? was at the end of Pier 4/5 which took me on a lovely long walk down the entire length of the pier.
The Theatre Bar at the End of the Wharf provided encouragement and inspiration along the way!

The double-decked finger wharves around Walsh Bay were built in the early part of the 1900's.
The old wool stores have now been converted into an arts precinct.
At the end of this year's festival, the area will be closed for 2 years while it undergoes refurbishment and rejuvenation. Apparently there will be a square erected over the water between the two wharves.

Watch this Arts Precinct space for more details.

I was curious to learn a little more about the history of the area, because even though these buildings are old and cold and draughty, I love the tall, dark spaces, the light through the high windows and their relationship to the harbour.

I hope the redevelopment maintains the feel and history of the place but with a few more mod cons, like proper toilets!

The Walsh Bay website tells me that,

At the end of the 19th century, without a seawall, the Walsh Bay foreshore was awash with rubbish and infested with rats. A major disaster changed everything in 1900 when Arthur Payne, a van driver, became the first person to contract the Bubonic Plague, which arrived in Sydney in January. 

The rats were brought under control and by August the outbreak was over. 

In October that year The Sydney Harbour Trust was established to rebuild the port of Sydney. Wharves were renewed and whole streets disappeared as the cliffs were cut down to form Hickson Road.

I arrived with enough time to enjoy a coffee in the sunshine whilst reading my book - Joan Lindsay's bio Time Without Clocks. I was very grateful for my view of clean, sparkling water and colourful flags - not a rat insight! 

Do We Turn Into Our Mothers? was led by Louise Asler, and the conversation included Caroline Baum (author of Only), Nadja Spiegelman (author of I'm Supposed to Protect You From All This) and Jessica Friedmann (author of Things That Helped).

All three have written books about their parents and parenthood although it was their relationship with their mothers that was the particular focus today.
Within that was the idea of narrative - how we constantly rewrite our own histories and the push/pull effect of differing memories within families.

Going into this session, I knew that I already loved Spiegelman's memoir. I realised very quickly it was because that Nadja herself, was a funny, warm, articulate, generous, thoughtful and entertaining person in the flesh.
Nadja explained that her book was 'a shaped telling not a tell-all'.
Her comment about how the process of writing this book allowed her to see the girl in her mother and for her mother to see the woman in her struck a chord.
But I'm sure I will have more to say about this by the end of her individual session on Saturday.

Baum discussed the difficulty of balancing ruthlessness and compassion when writing a memoir and I loved her descriptions of her family as being 'champion sulkers'. I suspect I will be reading her book, Only, now.

Friedmann was harder for me to define or discuss lightly.
She has been through some major periods of depression, including a traumatic post-natal depression time that informed her book of essays.
Body image and boundaries have been her life themes so far. There was an intensity about her presence and her comments that overwhelmed my senses. I felt challenged by her and uncomfortable. Jessica's intelligence shone through everything she said but it wasn't always easy to hear what she had to say. I'm not sure I can read her book.
Her journey has been very dark at times and I can only admire her courage and determination - from afar - a little at a time.

And the Award Goes To... featured three of the NSW Premier's Literary Award winners.

I was hoping that Heather Rose would be attendance as the winner of the Christina Stead Fiction Award, so imagine my delight when I walked in to see this!

My review for Museum of Modern Love is here.

Also in attendance were the co-authors for One Thousand Hills, James Roy and Noel Zihabamwe. They took out the Ethel Turner Award for Young People's Literature.

We spent the hour exploring friendship, their writing processes and the idea of hope and kindness in literature. 

Having researched both books and authors for the reviews I previously wrote, I didn't really learn anything new. But I was thoroughly entertained and heartened by the creative impulses that drive our talented authors.

My final session for the day was in The Loft on Pier 2/3.

The views of the bridge through the high windows are gorgeous while the sounds of the trains going across it are occasionally distracting!

This session was with Kate Grenville discussing her book about The Case Against Fragrance with moderator Caroline Baum. The same Caroline Baum that I had seen earlier in the day talking about mothers, reminding me that the Australian arts scene is often very self-contained.

As I was walking back to the ferry in the fading afternoon light, I reflected on my day.

It had been thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating, but I'm not sure I learnt anything new. I didn't discover any new-to-me authors or feel compelled to add any more books to my wishlist.

Perhaps the weekend sessions will change my mind?

Picture Book Technology & Online Safety

It was only a matter of time before we saw picture books for children that contained themes about mobile phone use. The two latest offerings deal with the positive aspects as well as the addictive nature of technology and social media.

Australian writer/illustrator Nick Bland gives us The Fabulous Friend Machine. Popcorn the hen is a very friendly chook. She's even won awards for friendliness. One day she discovers a glowing device on the ground near her home. It appears to be very, very friendly.

But Popcorn quickly learns that spending hours and hours talking to her new online friends can cause problems with her real life friends. And who are these new friends anyway?

After nearly being running over by a tractor (because she was too busy looking at her screen) and discovering that her new online friends were actually wolves, Popcorn rediscovers the value of paying attention to her real life friends. She also learns to exercise more caution when using her new friend machine.

Nick Bland is a CBCA and ABIA award winning illustrator. He doesn't appear to have his own web page, but he did have an exhibition last year in Darwin (where he now lives), to show off some of the work featured in his previous 26 books. Bland's usual medium is acrylic paint and pens.

Tek: The Modern Cave Boy by Patrick McDonnell also deals with the addictive nature of mobile devices, online games and binge TV viewing, but plays around with the book's formatting to do so. McDonnell's Tek looks and feels like a tablet, with firm dark edges and a screen like set-up on each page. You can even see the battery life running low as you read along.

Both books use humour to convey their message. However Tek needs to learn to disconnect so that he reconnect with his family, friends and the real world around him. His technology obsession is making him uncommunicative and anti-social.

McDonnell is an American author/illustrator best known for his comic strip MUTTS. His recent forays into picture book territory have already elicited New York Times bestsellers and a Caldecott Honor winner.

Have you come across any other picture books dealing with online behaviour and mobile phone use for children?

Another Australian title is The Internet is a Puddle by psychologist Shona Innes - initially written to help some of her clients, it teaches us how to play safely online.

Please add titles or links to any other picture books (from anywhere in the world) in the comments below so that we can build up a picture book online safety resource list.

Is it just me...?

Harper Lee & 'Scout' (Helios Gallery).

I really want to get excited about this, but something feels off....

You've all seen the news by now I'm sure.

Here it is in Australia

The US

And the UK.

Is it a sequel? A prequel? A first novel or second?

Should we be delighted that they have suddenly found a story about an adult Scout? Or is To Kill A Mockingbird simply too hard to top?

Given Lee's advanced age, deteriorating health, & the recent death of her lawyer & sister, is this a good decision, made for all the right reasons?

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my all time favourite books. Will this mess with my memory of it? Will it affect how I experience subsequent rereads?

Will a sequel/prequel tarnish or enhance this masterpiece of modern literature?

What do you think?

Am I simply being too suspicious? A doubting Thomas?

What would Atticus advise right now?

D is for Robert Dessaix

Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney on 17^th February 1944.

He was soon adopted & given the name Robert Jones. 

Young Robert was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and the Australian National University. He then studied at Moscow State University during the early 1970s, and taught Russian Studies at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales from 1972 to 1984.

After attaining his PhD, he changed his named back to his biological name, Robert Dessaix.

From 1985 to 1995 Dessaix presented the ABC program Books and Writing - which is where I first came across him.

I then read (& loved) Night Letters when it came out.
I devoured his story in Secrets (as well as Modjeska’s & Lohrey’s – oh, especially Lohrey’s one on singing – that was magic & hit just the right chord in my life at the time! Pun intended.)

I also read (And So Forth) when it came out. I found his life story fascinating. I also felt a deep personal response to his intellectualism at a time when I was feeling intellectually isolated .

Every time a new book came out, I thought, I must read that - that sounds like my kind of fascinating - even the Russian one (which seemed to put some people off). But something always got in the way.

As I'm writing this post, I'm again reminded of how much I learnt from his earlier stories and non-fiction & how I felt so connected to what he had to say about life & living. I wonder anew at why I haven't read absolutely everything he ever wrote!

WH Chong on Crickey.com.au talks about his encounter with Dessaix live, that reflects how I feel about his writing...

"The other night at the Wheeler Centre, where I seemed to have camped out lately, we saw the celebrated writer Robert Dessaix take the stage for one of his brilliantly sly and penetrating performances. 

By penetrating I mean how he seems to cut into the moment — loosing the sap? the blood? — and make it tremendously vivid, so that we all felt very awake and present. 

And when I say performance, he is performing the persona he’s been refining for a long time — ‘Robert Dessaix’ is a talker, full of dramatic and witty intonations, dry and disconcertingly direct. Bluntness somehow fused with charm. And that low voice with its rainbow glimmerings of fugitive accents."

Novels

Robert Dessaix 1998 by Robert Hannaford
(my photo from the National Potrait Gallery earlier in the year).

• Night Letters: A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov (1996)
• Secrets (with Drusilla Modjeska and Amanda Lohrey, 1997)
• Corfu (2001)

Autobiography

• A Mother's Disgrace (1994)
• Arabesques : A Tale of Double Lives (2008)

Non-fiction

• (And So Forth) (1998)
• Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev (2004)
• As I Was Saying: a Collection of Musings (2012)
• What Days Are For (2014)

Edited

• Australian Gay and Lesbian Writing: An Anthology (1993)
• Picador New Writing (1993)
• Speaking Their Minds: Intellectuals and the Public Culture in Australia (1998)
• The Best Australian Essays 2004 (2004)
• The Best Australian Essays 2005 (2005)

 “...'undertow'. It describes (...) how underneath our own everyday lives - the shopping and squabbles and weeding and trips to the vet - there's a sense of being dragged slowly off, not against our will but regardless of it. And fighting the undertow, as children are quick to learn, is not usually the best way of getting back to the beach. Floating along with it, on the other hand, can be fatal.

It's really the struggle, the argument with oneself, that interests...”
  Robert Dessaix, Picador New Writing 

Dessaix now lives in Tasmania with his long time partner (& fellow author) Peter Timms. 

I found this lovely article in last month's Mercury featuring Robert & his latest book, What Days Are For. 

I hope (plan!) to read more of Dessaix's work sooner rather than later. This post has reminded of a long lost friend that I want to get back in touch with again.

This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday & Authors by Alphabet.

B is for James Bradley

Aussie Author Challenge #2

This week we visit a contemporary Australian writer, poet & critic.

James Bradley

Born 15th May 1967 in Adelaide, SA.

Bradley stuudied at the University of Adelaide where he studied law & philosophy.

He now lives in Sydney with his partner, the novelist Mardi McConnochie, and daughters, Annabelle and Lila.

Novels

• Wrack (1997)  - Shortlisted for Miles Franklin Award & the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book.
• The Deep Field (1999)
  
• The Resurrectionist (2006)
  

Poetry

• Paper Nautilus (1994) 

Editor

• Blur: Stories by Young Australian Writers (1996)
• The Penguin Book of the Ocean (2010)

James Bradley by Bronwyn Rennex

I thoroughly enjoyed Wrack & to a lesser degree The Deep Field.

Both books deal with time, loss & self-discovery.

Wrack delved into the historical myths & truths surrounding the 'discovery' of Australia. Set on the beautiful south coast of NSW & moving between several time periods, I found this book absorbing & moving. Over a decade later I can still bring to mind the beach shack & the wild coastal storms that featured strongly in the story.

Wrack has now been included as one of the possible texts for the new HSC Discovery module.

  "In the end, nothing is true, save that which we feel. Nothing we remember, nothing we believe, all are just stories and echoes. The past is a shifting sea where nothing is certain, and where the things we seek cannot be found, a place where we seek lands that rise from the mist into the glare of the sun and then vanish again, as quickly as they arrived. A shifting sea with nothing at its centre, except illusions, and loss." (Wrack)

The Deep Field was set in the future - a future only a decade on from the publication date (I will have to reread this to see how the futuristic stuff holds up).
Sadly the only thing I remember about this book is the ammonites.

Historical stories will always grab my attention more that science fiction, I guess.

Blur was a curious mix of stories from new young writers. I wanted to enjoy it more than I actually did.

I have also been eyeing off The Penguin Book of Ocean for years.

"James Bradley presents a dazzling selection of writing exploring this grandest of obsessions, combining fact and fiction, classical and contemporary, to create a collection like no other.

From Rachel Carson's luminous account of our planet's birth to the story of the wreck that inspired Moby-Dick, from Ernest Shackleton's harrowing account of his escape from Antarctica by open boat to Tim Winton's award-winning dissection of the dark side of surfing, The Penguin Book of the Ocean is a hymn to the mystery, beauty and majesty of the ocean, and to the poets and explorers it has inspired."

If you'd like to read about Bradley & his novel Resurrectionist - check out the PanMacmillan page here.

His personal blog is called City of Tongues where he talks about, amongst other things, his latest novel, Clade, to be published in January 2015.

Bradley on winning the Pacall Prize for Australia's best critic 2012.

"As for principles, someone once said that the only bad writing is dishonest writing, and I tend to agree. The best thing you can do is write from the heart and talk about how you felt and what you think. Part of that is about being honest about what you thought, but it's also about acknowledging your own prejudices and being prepared to acknowledge critical judgements are always provisional."

Have you read anything by Bradley? One of his novels, or maybe one one of his newpaper articles?
Do you have a favourite author that writes about the beach?

This post is also part of Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday meme.

Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach by Alison Lester

Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach is a follow up book for Alison Lester after the success of Noni the Pony (2011).

Lester has been writing and illustrating children's books for over 30 years.

She was born in country Victoria, growing up on a farm overlooking the sea.

Horses have always been a passion for her, which is especially evident in her two Noni books.

Combined with fun, rhyming text, happy, friendly animals and a story that focuses on friendship and enjoying our natural environment, Lester has successfully transmitted her passion to the page and into our hearts.

Lester's illustrations flow gently across each page to the next. There is a graceful exuberance in these simple drawings that makes your heart feel good.

Noni & her friends exemplify simplicity & joie de vivre!

Noni the Pony was nominated for the 2011 CBCA shortlist. 

Noni the pony is friendly and funny.

Her shimmering tail is the colour of honey.

She lives on a farm at Waratah Bay,

and likes eating apples and carrots and hay.

In 2012, Lester was chosen, along with Boori Monti Pryor, to be Australia's first Childrens Laureate.

 "Her picture books mix imaginary worlds with everyday life, encouraging children to believe in themselves and celebrate the differences that make them special. Alison is involved in many community art projects and spends part of every year travelling to remote Indigenous communities, using her books to help children and adults write and draw about their own lives."

They spent two years travelling around Australia 

"inspiring young people to tell their own stories and be part of an active literary culture for enjoyment, 

well-being and success in life."

Other Alison Lester books that I have reviewed: 

Sophie Scott Goes South

One Small Island

Thing

Kissed By the Moon