The E Wasteland

"T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland not only featured a typist as one of its figures, Eliot's actual typing of the poem on three different typewriters proved the key by which Lawrence Rainey unlocked the history of the text and accurately reconstructed the different episodes' order of composition. Would such a coup have been possible if Eliot … Continue reading The E Wasteland →

The Nice and the Good, Discarded

I picked up a couple of good books at a garage sale recently. One of them was The Nice and the Good, Iris Murdoch's eleventh novel. Several chapters in and I'm so very impressed: "Pierce became aware of his mother and turned slowly to face her. He rarely moved fast. He looked at her without … Continue reading The Nice and the Good, Discarded →

From Ray to Eternity

Born in in Waukegan, Illinois, fantasy writer Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was a native of the "rapidly disappearing small-town world of the American heartland" that English writer Malcolm Bradbury described from the point of view of an alien visitor. Like Malcolm, Ray was a prolific writer of short stories, screenplay and teleplays. However, Ray's tales … Continue reading From Ray to Eternity →

The Traveling Bradbury

A prolific writer of short stories, literary criticism, television plays and series, Malcolm Bradbury (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) made no secret of the fact that fiction, and in particular the novel, was his true love: "Like most comic novelists, I take the novel extremely seriously. It is the best of all forms - open and personal, … Continue reading The Traveling Bradbury →

The Multi-Facited Astrid Lindgren

A statue commemorating the Swedish author, Astrid Lindgren, was inaugurated on 1 June 2007 in the main square of the town of Vimmerby, Sweden. The statue is the work of artist Marie Louise Ekman, in cooperation with Hanna Beling, Heinz Müllner, and pupils at the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm. Before making her breakthrough with her children's book Pippi Longstocking, Astrid … Continue reading The Multi-Facited Astrid Lindgren →

All That J.D. Salinger Crap

Writer and academic David Lodge, in his collection of articles for the Independent on Sunday: The Art of Fiction, uses an extract from J.D, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (first published in book form in 1951) to illustrate what he calls "Teenage Skaz": "Skaz is a rather appealing Russian word (suggesting "jazz" and "scat") used … Continue reading All That J.D. Salinger Crap →

Disjoined

As a card-carrying member of The Typosphere ... ... well okay, it's an expired Australian Writers Guild Membership Card, but see how the card is signed by Zapata1. That my friends is what's known as subliminal messaging. Sadly, the AWG stepped away from the typewriter. This is the card I received the following year ... The pen may be … Continue reading Disjoined →

Without a Hitch

I picked up this hardback edition of Hitch-22, the memoirs of the late Christopher Hitchens (political journalist, literary critic, essayist, atheist) in a Salvation Army store ... ... second-hand but in such near mint condition it seemed no-one had previously turned its pages, which is a surprise, because I found it to be very entertaining. During a 2010 Australian ABC … Continue reading Without a Hitch →