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Posts from the ‘biography’ Category

5
Aug

Chateaubriand

  • Author: Jean-Claude Berchet (1939)
  • Title:  Chateaubriand
  • Published: 2012
  • Genre: biography
  • Language: French
  • Trivia: Berchet is a François-René Chateaubriand specialist.
  • List Reading Challenges 2018
  • Monthly planning
  • Here is the list of my  French Books.
  • I have included reviews of  books  2017 – 2018.
  • Perhaps you can find a book you’d like to  read!

 

Conclusion:

Strong point: combination of biography and history (start of Fr Revolution as experienced by Chateaubriand…interesting perspective! The entire system of medieval institutions had been destroyed!

Strong point: Berchet also takes time to explain the influence such great men as Malesherbes and Mirabeau had on Chateaubriand. The reader is treated to more than just the biography of Francois-Rene….but many more illustrious Frenchmen.

Travel: America, Chateaubriand traveled to the new world July – December 1791. He was bewitched (evoûté) by the landscape, people and especially the indians.
Chateaubriand: the man….was obsessed by the conviction that happiness is an illusion…elusive and not to be achieved. (pg 196)

Strong point: books like this etch ‘important dates and events’ in my mind more than all the ‘learn by heart’ studying done high-school.
I was never told to  read an ‘extra historical book’  from a reading list to be used in class in addition to our text book! Why? There is so much more to learn that is NOT in the standard school books.

History: There are some good insights about the French Revolution in this book, 17 July 1789: You cannot fool all of the people….all of the time!
Louis XVI after fall of the Bastille proclaimed himself father of his ‘folk’. Unfortunately this ‘folk’ “ne tardera pas à lui couper la tête” !
They were quick to chop off his head!

Reading strategy: Decided to ‘skim’ 115 pages (231-347). We all know after Battle of Thionville (1792) C. was wounded, exiled to England, started writing his books and returned to France 06 May 1800. I’ve kept on ‘skimming’ when necessary.

Berchet goes ‘way overboard‘ with the years C. was in England. Many of his friends (Fontanes)…are included in this section and the death of C’s mother and sister Julie. Time to move on to history and Napoleon!

Structure of book:  50% biography – 25% travel journal (America, England, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Jerusalem, Egypt, Spain) 25% lives of other notables in Chateaubriand’s circle of friends. The book could have been 300 pages shorter.

Marriage: Arranged marriage with Celeste was a catastrophe. Chateaubriand had other love interests: Mme Delphine de Custine and Mme de Noailles.

Weak point: …useless, useless details!  pg 540: the price of ‘La Vallée-aux-Loups’, the loan agreements and a list of furniture on the 1st floor of the building. This is just a waste of my reading time! Berchet: (ch 3) goes off course  explaining Chateaubriand’s brother’s marriage contract!. If you read this book you get not only Francois René…but the entire family and in-laws!

 

Last thoughts:

  1. This book is NOT for the casual reader…comme moi!
  2. …who just wants to know about Chateaubriand in general terms.
  3. This book is for the serious scholar.
  4. Lesson learned:
  5. I should have just read Chateaubraind’s wikipedia page.
  6. update:
  7. I must wait and  see every day
  8. …what Francois René C. has up his sleeve!
  9. He is NOT my idea of a perfect dinner guest.
  10. His brooding personality would make any soufflé collapse!

 

Brooding dinner guest…

 

25
Jul

Biography: Berthe Morisot ‘Impressioniste’

 

Conclusion:

  1. This book was such an entertaining read.
  2. If you want to sharpen your ‘French Skills’
  3. I would recommend this book in a heartbeat.
  4. The French is easy to follow
  5. …and Berthe Morisot’s life is very interesting.
  6. Above is her ‘chef-d’oeuvre’ Le Berceau (1872).
  7. She painted her sister Edma and niece Blanche.
  8. Notice the shimmering quality of the cradle’s veil
  9. …the diagonal lines of the drapes behind Edma
  10. and  flowing around the cradle.
  11. Notice the mother’s intimate gaze upon her infant
  12. …a moment of reflection, silence, peace with her
  13. …cheek leaning on her hand.
  14. Notice Edma’s bent left arm
  15. …a mirror image of the child’s arm.
  16. This paining is absolutely breathless.
  17. Trivia: After unsuccessful attempts to sell the painting
  18. …Le Berceau stayed in the model’s family
  19. …until it was bought by the Louvre in 1930.

 

Did you know?

Morisot was anorexic and at times fainted in front of the painting she was working on. After the birth of her daughter 1878 Berthe finally felt true joy. Her body rejuvenated and the dark circles under her eyes vanished.

Morisot was always referred to as ‘Madame’ by fellow artists and never Berthe.

Never commercially successful during her lifetime, she nevertheless outsold Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

Morisot painted only 1 adult male...her husband Eugène Manet.

Last thoughts:

  1. I enjoy reading in French but it took me 5 years to
  2. build up a vocabulary.
  3. Of course I am still looking up words.
  4. A book that is easy to start with is the prize winning
  5. Charlotte  by David Foenkinos.
  6. It was awarded Prix Renaudot  2014.
  7. Here is the LINK and I know you will enjoy it!
  8. Learning a 2nd or 3rd  language opens up an entire
  9. new library for you.
  10. I can read books in English, French and Dutch!
  11. If I really try….I can get through a German book.
  12. All you have to do is choose a book
  13. …use this LINK  for  a very
  14. …good digital French-English dictionary (or other languages)
  15. …and you are starting a great adventure!
  16. Here is the list of the French Books Read.
  17. I have included reviews of  books  2017 – 2018

 

Berthe Morisot:

 

 

Le Balcon, E. Manet

 

 

17
Apr

The Trauma Cleaner

 

Finished: 17.04.2018
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: A+++
Review:

 

Who is Sandra/Peter?
She is a transgender, a survivor of a dysfunctional childhood, a husband, wife,
father, svelte star of many brothels and a savvy businesswoman.

 

What did I learn from Sandra?
Keep you life uncluttered…keep only what makes you happy.
Sandra: “I’ve made an executive decision.
This is shit”… and we are tossing it out!

  1. I just was so inspired by the strength Sandra showed
  2. ..when life threw her a curve ball.
  3. She helps her clients throw the junk out of their lives.
  4. She comforts them and always
  5. ...feels warm (character), like a car engine that’s been driving for hours.

 

Who was my favorite client?
Marilyn
A 70-ish “iron-tongued warrior in silken finery and bold beads.
Marilyn puttering around the house filled with junk and debris that almost sweeps the ceiling… with the aid of a gliding walker while balancing a gin and tonic on it in the early-morning light. Marilyn is a Christmas junkie… 2 artificial trees, Christmas-themed rugs, strings of lights an lots of Santas.
Hoarding does not discriminate on the basis of income or intelligence.

 

Strong point: Sarah Krasnostein can write! I am so impressed and happy I discovered this new writer.If this is a first book…I hope to read may more by Sarah!
Strong point: The book moved me to tears.
…and I mean that in a good way.
The narratives of the hoarders are as messy as their houses.
But Sandra has managed to maintain harmony in
her home and life as a means of survival.

 

Last thoughts:

  1. Sandra’s personal life is a rollercoaster ride of emotion.
  2. Hold on to your hat!
  3. But the chapters alternated with her work as trauma cleaner
  4. …..showing a compassion that just took my breath away.
  5. Sandra runs a tight ship when it comes to her business
  6. …but takes time to sit on the side of the bed with
  7. …’Marilyn’ in her lavender bathrobe.
  8. She assure her client that nothing is
  9. …tossed out with out her permission.
  10. Nothing goes in the dishwasher.
  11. Her workers will hand wash every utensil in the kitchen.
  12. Marilyn sighs a deep breath of relief.

#MustRead !

 

Sandra

 

11
Mar

Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds

Pierre Ryckmans ( pen-name:  S. Leys)   (1935-2104)

 

  • Author: P. Paquet
  • Title: Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds  (550 pg)
  • Published: 2016 (English translation 2017)

 

 

Introduction:

  1. This book explores an extraordinary life.
  2. Pierre Ryckmans was born in Belgium, where he trained
  3. in art history but wanted to become a painter.
  4. He first went to China when he was nineteen.
  5. Later, he became a scathing critic of Mao and Maoism
  6. He moved to Australia in 1970 with his wife and four children.
  7. He wrote the controversial book The Chairman’s New Clothes (1971)
  8. He also wrote  The Death of Napoleon (piece of alternative history )
  9. and many  masterful essays published in The Monthly and  Quadrant.
  10. Pierre Ryckmans came under attack
  11. when he exposed the brutal reality of
  12. …China’s Cultural Revolution to the West.
  13. This expert on China dared to criticize
  14. …Mao’s cultural revolution and
  15. …the gullibility of western sinophiles.

 

What did he publish in 1971?

Controversial book:  The Chairman’s New Clothes
Subject: assessment of the first two decades of Chinese communist regime
Goal: exposed the brutal reality of  Maoism…just report the facts.
Tone:  combative

 

What was Simon Leys’  core message?

  1. The Cultural Revolution
  2. ‘had nothing revolutionary about it except the name.’
  3. It was basically a ‘power struggle waged at the top between a
  4. handful of men and behind the
  5. smokescreen of a fictitious mass movement.’

 

Conclusion:

  1. The name Simon Leys  probably does not ring a bell.
  2. He was rarely heard on the radio or TV.
  3. He boycotted book fairs and writer’s festivals.
  4. But Leys is considered one of the greatest
  5. intellectuals to have lived in Australia.
  6. Leys  writes in English and Chinese.
  7. “His style is immaculate
  8. …as a marble staircase in a palace
  9. …..he cleans it 20 times a day”.
  10. I loved the epigraph that Leys used
  11. …in the book The Chairman’s New Clothes
  12. “The yes-yes of the crowd carries
  13. …less weight than the no-no of one decent man.”
  14. (Sima Qian, great Chinese historian 145 BC – 86 BC)
  15. While reading this biography of Pierre Ryckmans
  16. ….I am also watching the changes in China at the moment.
  17. Xi Jinping can remain as a life long president.
  18. The power remains still with a handful of men.
  19. This book was very detailed and long.
  20. I had to skim some parts and concentrate on the more
  21. …important information.
  22. I was not interested in the day-to-day struggle that
  23. …ensued to get Leys’ book published in Paris in 1971.

 

Trivia:

  1. Simon Leys thought any Western reader
  2. …no matter how unprepared
  3. he is to approach the Chinese universe can acquire a simple and
  4. just intuition to the human condition by reading two little books:
  5. Six Records of a Floating Life (Shen Fu, 1763-1825) and
  6. The Execution of Mayor Yin (Chen Jo-hsi, 1938) 8 short stories.
16
Feb

Victor Hugo vol 1 (1802-1851)

 

Conclusion:

  1. I took me 3 weeks to read this book.
  2. I was exhasted when I reached pg 1159
  3. It felt like brushing my teeth, it became a daily habit.
  4. I jotted down some thoughts during my reading.
  5. It is impossible to give a review of the total book.
  6. I just cannot remember everything.
  7. I hope you can glean some information
  8. …from my notes that will  interest you.

 

Notes:

Autobiographical: Hugo saturated all his works with memories, confidences and fragmented confessions. The author embedded characters/places in his poems and stories that were linked to his own name Hugo or people in his childhood.
There is secret code in Les Miserables that only Hugo and his long time lover Juliette Drouet would understand!

Notes: amazing family tree HUGO from father and mother’s side -ending with Hugo’s granddaughter Jeanne (1869-1941).Hovasse even includes the family tree of Victor Hugo’s (1802-1885) long time mistress Juliette Drouet (1806-1883)!

Notes: Some think Victor Hugo’s father was `not Leopold Sophie’s husband…but her lover General Victor Lahore! She asked him to be Hugo’s godfather and she named the baby after him! Hmmm.

Marriage of Hugo’a parents: Leopold and Sopie, was a train wreck!

Trivia: Tome IV, livre II, chapitre III. Il est intitulé “Apparition du père Mabeuf”
The character M. Mabeuf is a reference to a dictée that Victor Hugo  completed when he was 7 years old. He made just one mistake…he left the ‘O’ out of boeuf!  That simple incident found its way into one of the greatest novels written!

Trivia: The family life Valjean experienced rue Plumet resembles the 18 months that Hugo  spent in Feuillantines….this was the first time he  felt a loving family feeling….he was 7 yrs old.

Personage: Outlaw Jean Valjean is modeled on General Lahorie Victor Hugo’s godfather.

Spain: Victor Hugo’s  father was stationed in Spain (general) and Victor spoke better Spanish than French at the age of 10 yrs old.

LesMis: chapter 1817 -this is a list of ‘triva’ that occurred in 1817. The most important fact is left out. Victor Hugo  had entered a poem in the contest for Prix Poesie de L”Academie française…..and got an honourable mention. He was only 15 yrs but it was his official debut as a man of French Letters!

Quote: pg 210: Hugo’s advice: Live simply as other men…see what they see, feel what they feel and think a little more than they think!

Autobiographical:  Hugo was living on a very small budget 1822 and sharing a room with his cousin Aldolphe. Reading LesMis notice the Marius’s budget this describes the real situation of Hugo! Marius and Hugo both had only 2 suits!

Autobiographical: The  marriage of Marius and Cosette is a mixture of fact and fiction. The date of the marriage represents the first night with Juliet Drouet, VH’s long time lover, 16.02.1833.
The place of the wedding is not St. Suplice where VH and Adele were married….but Hugo  moved it to St. Paul where he beloved daughter Léopoldine married her husband.
The sudden departure of Valjean from the marriage celebration represents the break with Eugène, Hugo’s  brother, who was secretly in love with Adele himself.  The description of the marriage night in Les Mis is apparently not of Hugo’s actual wedding night (12 Oct 1822) but the first night with Julliet Drouet (16 Febr 1833). Ouch!

Reading plan: the book turns out to be more than a biography…it is a guide through the Romantic period…and brushing against the next movement that was a reaction to Romanticism….’Parnassianism’.
I found that some chapters were difficult to read because I did not know many poets mentioned.

Trivia: Victor Hugo preferred beer over wine!

LesMis: Fantine is born 2 days after Victor Hugo was elected to Academie française (1841). Hugo witnessed a young girl being harassed in the street…this became Fantine.
M. Madeleine = Victor Hugo. Hugo is now taking notes about ‘les temps présents’ to help his move from literature to politics.

Wedding: Victor Hugo’s daughter Léopoldinen married on 15 Febr 1843. The ceremony was moved 1 day forward as not to coincide with 10th anniversary the affair H had started with Juliette Drouet. Cosette’s wedding day DID correspond with 16 February and was a coded message to Hugo’s mistress Juliette. Cosette’s wedding gown is the description of the dress Léopoldine wore on her wedding day.

Note: I was surprised how quickly Hovasse handed the wedding and death of Hugo’s most beloved daughter. It was done in 3 pages!  Yet the reader is dragged through an ‘analyse extrêmement poussée’ (highly detailed) day to day description of 8 road trips!

Note: pg 948-952    1845: …very touching moments between Louis-Philippe (25 yrs older than VH) and the poet. Louis Philippe asked VH to linger after other guests left. LP spoke candidly and hoped VH would be a witness for history and reveal the man LP really was under the burden of the crown of France. Hugo wrote a condense version of these conversation is his chapter ‘Louis-Phillippe” in LesMis. (volume 4 ‘St Denis’, book 1 ch 3)

 

 

Updates Goodreads:

15.01.2018

Massive biography and it is only vol 1 (1802-1851)..but is is so good!
It read like a novel!”

16.01.2018

Victor Hugo ‘s writing is saturated with confidences and fragmented confessions. In 1871 after his exile Hugo visited many sites from his childhood. He was sad to see that only a patch of grass and a dilapidated section of a wall was left. “It was not worth looking at if not with the profound eye of memories”

20.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong + reading biography of V. Hugo:
Victor experienced a sad childhood coping with a messy and bitter divorce of his parents. Hugo was sent to boarding school (imprisonment was more like it…) by his father. Education was strict but Victor still managed some ‘joie de vivre’ by memorizing 30-40 lines of Hoarce or Virgil each night and in the morning translated the verses into French.
He was just 13 yr.

23.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong Poet friends (romantics, Royalists) A. Soumet, A. de Vigny turn a cold shoulder towards Hugo….as his political views dirft into liberalism. This hurts the sensitive Victor.

24.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong – very little about personal life of Victor Hugo only a few pages about his wedding (12 Oct 1822), birth son (1823-1823) and joy when daughter Leopoldien is born and is healthy. The rest was about literary publications (la Muse Francaise) and other poets involved. Hugo attends coronation King Charles X in Reims. All in all…a lot of reading and found only 2 references to things in Les Mis.

26.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong: Keep reading Les Mis daily chapter then…tackle the massive biography. Stats: 10 days, read 5 of 10 chapters, 380/1159 pages, Victor Hugo is 27 yr and just published his famous Odes and Ballads (1829) Expected more personal history but the emphasis is mostly on his writings, the Romantic movement and the other family, poets, publishers, illustrators and friends that swirl around Hugo. Exahusted.

28.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong – Success has its dark side. VH is only 28 yrs old and his world is starting to crumble. Brouhaha about play Hermani (banned by Charles X), defied censure and the play is a hit. Unfortunately VH is blind and does not see his marriage weakening under the pressure of fame. The ultimate deception: does Adèle feel more than friendship for VH’s closest friend Saint-Beuve? VH is a genius but feels weak.

29.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong – trivia about Victor Hugo
Crushing reviews of Notre-Dame de Paris (1831):
Stendhal thinks it is muck
Sainte-Beuve thinks it is not catholic enough.
Montelembert likes part about ND’s architecture….the rest, mèh!
Goethe thinks its is abominable…could hardly finish it.
Chateaubriand….no comment.
Oh, critics…..what do they know?
Notre-Dame de Parsis is still a classic!

30.01.2018

#LesMisReadalong- trivia: Victor Hugo used the biography of his mistress (Juliette Drouet) as a basis for Fantine….both orphans at a young age, placed in the care of a convent..both had to a struggle to survive.
This book is more than a biography…it is a panoramic view of the literary world of Paris 1790-1885. Classicists – art for art’s sake VS Romantics – usefulness of art for political and social change.

31.01.2108

#LesMisReadalong – Love affair with Juliette Drouet is dripping with passion. JD writes him every day…VH is not reading them as he used to. JD does not even come close to Mme Sévigné’s style. (dame des belle lettres 1626-1676). How many times can you say je t’adore? We get it!. The reader knows that VH will be starting his next romance with Leonie d’Aunet in 1837. VH is drawn to ladies like a moth to a flame!

01.02.2018

#LesMisReadalong- VH travels with Juliette but he is always taking notes, making sketches of cathedrals, architecture, towers. Visits ‘bagne’ (prison) in Toulon and Brest leave lasting impressions that he used in Les Mis. VH is elected to Academie française and L’ Assemblée. Death of Balzac leaves VH stunned…(1850). Life is still complicated: VH has wife, 4 children 2 mistresses (Juleitte, Léonie) and muse, Louise.

03.02.2018

#LesMisReadalong I needed some visual by Vincent Van Gogh to push me today. Starting the last 100 pages of Victor Hugo bio (very long book in French ) and I am determined to reach the finish line tonight! #NeedCoffee

Finally VH achieves his goal…be the next René Chateaubriand! RC was 32 years older than VH and his role model. RC was poet and given peerage in 1815. VH was poet and given peerage 1845. He entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, where he spoke against the death penalty and social injustice, and in favour of freedom of the press and self-government for Poland.

Looking ahead….Note: Vol 2 Book 6 ch 7   coded message and reference  to mistess Juliette Drouet
The names of Gauvain and Drouet are metioned.
Gauvain is Juliette’s family name and Drouet is the name she took for the theater. It is the name of a military uncle who adopted her at an early age.

Last chapters Whew: ..a lot of politics!  Thriling to read how Victor Hugo managed to escape Paris 05.02.1851 after coup’d’état with a price on his head of 25.000 francs!

…Victor is only 49 yr…ready to go into exile after coup d’état 02 December 1851. We still have a long way to go! But having witnessed the massacres on the barricades….Hugo is determined to write down all that he saw in Les Misérables!

 

9
Feb

The Path to Power

 

Robert Caro:

  1. Robert Allan Caro is an American journalist.
  2. Robert Caro writes biography with a free and loose hand.
  3. He transforms  biography into something new
  4. ….structured political opinion writing.
  5. He lived in the Texas Hill Country while writing The Path to Power.
  6. It covers Johnson’s youth.
  7. This epic biography is nearing its close. Slowly but surely.
  8. Mr. Caro ( 81 yr) said he had most of the research for the last volume.
  9. But “one more big thing” remains, he said: A trip to Vietnam.

Part 1:

LBJ is a stubborn child and teenager.
I had no idea what a rascal he was in his youth!
Finally he breaks and realizes….he will HAVE to go to college
if he ever wants to make something of himself!”

Part 2:

The LBJ of the college years would be the man who would become president.
He came out of the Hill Country of Texas.
It formed and shaped him….into a form so hard it would never change.

Part 3:

Lady Bird (wife) was LBJ’s most important political asset.

Parts 4-5-6:

I’m learning why LBJ became an important “mover and shaker” in Washington.
But he never would have risen politically without
the help of Speaker of the House…Sam Rayburn.

 

Conclusion:

Johnson family favorite saying:
You can tell a man by his boots, …his hats and the horse he rides.
The lapel-grabbing, embracing, manipulating of men
the wheeling-and-dealing the genius for politics
all culminated in …not the desire to dominate
….but the NEED to dominate.
LBJ was sensitive to the slightest hint of criticism and had
the urge not just to defeat….but destroy.

This book after all these years acquires a warm patina with age.
I let my thoughts drift while reading about the personality of LBJ
…his boot licking, bullying and thirst for respect and power.

LBJ: “born politician…but at times all hat an no cattle!”
He was more image or projection than actual substance.

Does it remind you of someone currently in The White House?
#MustRead….even if you are not a history buff!

 

LBJ  VS  TRUMP:

 

LBJ 

Poor beginnings …always in debt!
Strong relationship with his mother Rebekah

TRUMP

Rich family….money was no object
Rarely saw his mother…he did see a lot of the housekeeper.

LBJ – TRUMP….both

Craved power
Lacking political moral sensibility
Use of money to move the political world
Credibility gap… both men lied…incessantly!
Lack of embarrassment when proved they were lying
…they just didn’t care!
All encompassing personal ambition
…that made issues and scruples superfluous.

 

 

 

 

21
Nov

C.J. Dennis

 

Author: P. Butterss
Title: The Life and Works of C.J. Dennis
Published: 2014
Trivia: (SA) #AusReadingMonth @Brona’s Books
Trivia: Winner National Biography Award 2015
Trivia: #NonFicNov
Trivia: List Reading Challenges 2017

 

Who was this man?

  1. C.J. Dennis (1876-1938)   was an Australian poet known for his
  2. humorous poems and also his politically tinted verse about topical subjects.
  3. He is considered among Australia’s most famous poets. (…with H. Lawson and B. Paterson)

 

What are the main characteristics of his writing?

The essential ingredient was the reader’s emotional response.
His poetry was easy to understand and beneath the slangy twang
1. rolling rythm – rhyme
2. street slang
3. stage cockney
4. phonetic spellings

 

Best chapter:

  1. Best chapter 6:
  2. In this chapter we learn more about the poet’s,  subtle meanings …..very insightful.
  3. Other chapters are awash with names of Dennis’s
  4. literary circles ( Sunnyside, Melbourne).

Title:

  1. Dennis wrote about a ‘sentimental bloke’…but he wasn’t sentimental at all.
  2. Throughout his career he was  a hard-nosed business man.
  3. He does not want to advertise his change of political views
  4. ….it may annoy his readers/sales.
  5. The author  everything to make sure  his books were a ‘marketing success’.
  6. He asked the popular H. Lawson to write a foreward.
  7. He made his publisher agree to print his book BEFORE Christmas (sales?) and
  8. …publish a small pocket edition  of ‘The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
  9. …so that families could send it to the troops fighting at the front WWI.
  10. The book would boost the soldier’s morale….and earnings for Dennis!

 

Timeline: 1920’s – 1930’s:

  1. Author started to drink heavily again
  2. suffered from periods of depression an asthma.
  3. C.J. Dennis  was the unofficial poet laureate of Australia!
  4. But slang an dialect were becoming unfashionable.
  5. light topical verse (politically tinted) that filled newspapers
  6. was in decline.

 

Conclusion:

  1. I enjoyed this book….and it is a shame that  C.J. Dennis is practically
  2. …an unknown by a large reading public outside of Australia.
  3. His books are on Kindle for a mere  1 or 2 euro’s….
  4. I bought them all!

 

Major works:

  1. Major work:  The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
  2. Dennis acknowledges class division
  3. and then goes on to minimize it in his  poems.
  4. “…how life and love can be splendid for
  5. …the common bloke as for the cultured (pg 113)
  6. Dennis used the archetypal Australian male values of the
  7. bushman…and channeled unruliness into hard work for his family.

 

  1. Major work:  The Moods of Ginger Mick
  2. Dennis brings the bush values into a city setting
  3. ‘Mick’ was also important helping a nation (Australia)
  4. grieve after losing so many soldiers in WWI.
  5. Dennis used the archetypal Australian male values of the
  6. bushman…and channeled a backstreet fighter (larrikin) into an Anzac soldier.

 

  1. Major work: Poem:  Comin’ Ome Frum Shearin’
  2. Conflict:
  3. Man’s domestic duty to provide for his family VS
  4. The delights of a wilder and freer masculine life
  5. Attraction of drinking VS destructiveness
  6. Major work: Poem: The Play
  7. Humorous parody recognizable to anyone with the minimun
  8. knowledge of Romeo & Juliet…
  9. …don’t forget Mick Curio !

 

 

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