On his weblog "Eurthythamia", Michael C. publishes the final version of a sub-chapter cut from his PhD thesis. The essay is titled "Three Dollars and Economic Times, Subtopia as Grunge Bildunsroman". The title refers to the novels Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman, and Subtopia by Andrew McCann.
Margo Lanagan has been blogging over at the State Library of Victoria site as part of the Reading Victoria program. A recent post details her version of "Ten things I know about writing". I specifically like number 10: "You should always be trying to write a story that's slightly bigger than your own head." Same thing could apply to blogging. More commentary, maybe.
Susan Wyndham, on the "Entertainment" blog attached to "The Sydney Morning Herald" reports that "Frank Moorhouse has been appointed as the first CAL [Copyright Agency Limited] writer in residence at the University of Technology Sydney." While there he will be working on the third volume of his Palais des Nations trilogy (following Grand Days and Dark Palace). No title on the new novel as yet.
Susan Johnson uses the resurgence of interest in Richard Yates to post: "As any regular reader of this blog will know, part of this blog's raison d'être is to give an unvarnished view of the writer's life. I have long argued that the brilliant careers of, say, a Peter Carey or a John Updike are exceptions to the rule, and that the careers of most writers of literary fiction have more in common with Yates...A literary life cannot be measured by the success of a single book." Or failure for that matter. [Yates wrote the novel Revolutonary Road which was recently adapted for the screen by Justin Haythe, directed by Sam Mendes, and featured Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.]
An editor on the "Alien Onions" weblog remembers a book from their childhood, Dragon's Breath by Michael Dugan, illustrated by Allen Hicks. It concerns a girl who befriends a dragon who later saves the girl's home town from bushfires. Sounds both appropriate and comforting at this time.
