tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post5805053244174281547..comments2023-06-21T18:53:11.897+10:00Comments on Pykk: in her cabinUmbagollahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-65349207317777191362013-12-29T08:03:04.811+11:002013-12-29T08:03:04.811+11:00That's spectacular. I hope the other person li...That's spectacular. I hope the other person liked her, the one who returned her. (I don't remember you telling me this before.) Which one was it? I know Penguin republished <i>The Three Miss Kings</i> in 1987 and I keep wondering if that's why it's not on the internet when so much else of her is.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-88658562520803099582013-12-29T06:03:15.048+11:002013-12-29T06:03:15.048+11:00I'm finding it hard to read Praed without thin...I'm finding it hard to read Praed without thinking of her marriage, because the ghost of that situation keeps returning to her work in different disguises. It's her model for oppression and escape. Here, in different books, with different names, is a sensitive soul, an artistic soul, kept away in the bush, or married to a thug, or oppressed by the wind on the deck of a ship, or otherwise not allowed to have the acclaim and friendship that she deserves and needs. "This is a <i>fundamental wrong</i>," Praed tells you. "This needs to be fixed." <br /><br />The irony is that it makes her, as an author, seem less sensitive and more repetitive and stiff than Cambridge, because her fictional heroines are all talented or extraordinary, while Cambridge's protagonists are in the more complicated and volatile position of normal misfortune. (That's how I pair them up in my mind, anyway.)Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-24894716030926973532013-12-29T05:09:06.179+11:002013-12-29T05:09:06.179+11:00Did I tell you that, having never heard of her, af...Did I tell you that, having never heard of her, after reading a post by you that first introduced me to the notion that this writer existed, I bicycled down to the library and went looking for something else - and, lo and behold, there on the recently returned shelf, was a volume by her. Have I just told an exceptionally banal story? It seemed surprising to me at the time but now, retelling it, hmmm.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-73995210111735792932013-12-28T09:41:05.083+11:002013-12-28T09:41:05.083+11:00Love the mash-up. Sorry I've been pretty remis...Love the mash-up. Sorry I've been pretty remiss this year and should have been keeping up better with your Aussie Classic posts. Your observation is interesting here. It makes me think about the authors ... Pas I recollect Praed had a much rockier life/marriage than Cambridge which may explain the in the cabin/out on deck response!<br /><br />Hope you're having a great holiday season.Whispering Gumshttp://whisperinggums.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-60090429538901847892013-12-25T21:00:07.900+11:002013-12-25T21:00:07.900+11:00Merry Christmas. I've got a number of things I...Merry Christmas. I've got a number of things I want to read as well (I picked up Robert Lowell seriously for the first time yesterday -- I have a copy of his <i>Union Dead</i> -- and now I realise that I want to know his work). If you only get a chance to read one Cambridge then <i>Sisters</i> might be a good one. Stay away from the poetry, I say: it's not likely to entice anyone. Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5424364424049242300.post-38664340356465675542013-12-25T08:48:54.875+11:002013-12-25T08:48:54.875+11:00Happy Christmas. Looking forward to reading some o...Happy Christmas. Looking forward to reading some of what I've missed in the New Year. Already intrigued by the Cambridge/Leopardi references in the last post. Leopardi I am familiar with, Cambridge not - but interested, because of what you've written so far. There's a lot of reading ahead.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.com