Reading:
I’m in a bit of a reading no-man’s land at the moment. I recently finished The Landing, by Susan Johnson, and really enjoyed it (think Jane Austen – but set in a small, contemporary, coastal Queensland community). But perhaps the more interesting story concerns how I came to read the book.
A couple of weeks ago, Sydney Review of Books published a controversial piece in which reviewer Beth Driscoll commented on how The Landing, Relativity (Antonia Hayes) and The Other Side of the World (Stephanie Bishop) might lend themselves towards a ‘middlebrow’ reading, because of the marketing and subject matter. (You can imagine how much the authors lurrrvved the label ‘middlebrow’). Flying in the face of all conventional wisdom that says authors should never read reviews, these authors took matters into their own hands, and wrote a response, jointly rejecting the ‘middlebrow’ tag.
Personally, I thought the Driscoll piece raised interesting points about the way in which literary fiction, written by women and focusing on domestic issues, is marketed in a commercial way to a mainstream audience, a factor which may then affect the work’s critical reception. I can also appreciate the author’s dismay at the middlebrow tag, but think Johnson made the best point in saying that ‘any debate between highbrow and middlebrow fiction is essentially one about reputation, and in the face of the building of a literary reputation the author is defenceless.’ In other words, in terms of critical appraisal, the work that must speak for itself, and I’m sure that is what has occurred with each of these three books, which have been critically well-received.
Anyway, The Landing was truly refreshing. Smart, witty, ironic, but with a true emotional core – middlebrow or not – it deserves reading.
Now I can’t think what to read next!
Watching:
Have you heard of The Knick? (Screening on Foxtel, made by Cinemax)
Pretty much no one here in Australia has – and I cannot work out why. I think Foxtel hasn’t worked nearly hard enough to promote this show, which, for my mind, rivals House of Cards in the drama stakes. For a start, The Knick stars Clive Owen – a bona fide movie star whose name alone should be enough to attract an audience. It’s film-quality credentials are further enhance by the direction of Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Sex, Lies & Videotape). Set in New York in the early 19th century, The Knick is The Knickerbocker Hospital, where the main draw-card is the brilliant but cocaine addicted chief surgeon, Dr John Thackeray (played by Owen). This is New York as you’ve never seen it before – a town riddled with corruption, opium dens, racism, and European migrants. The production values are high, the acting totally convincing, and the gore is quite gruesome. But more than that, it’s a totally original concept. I mean, have you thought much about what surgical operations involved in the pre-electricity, pre-general anaesthetic, pre-x-ray era? It was kind of lawless. The doctors were true explorers – of the human body.
Writing
Last uni assignment of the semester is done! Woo-hoo! So, now it’s back to fiction. I’ve set myself the next 6-8 months to really press ahead with my next full-length work. I keep seeing people tweeting about NaNoWriMo and writers achieving all those massive word counts and feel like I should be joining in (*stands at edge of dance-floor, twirling hair), but I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not the kind of writer who can churn out 10,000 words, and then dump half of them, which I think is the attitude you need to go in with if you’re aiming to do 50,000 words in a month. I tend to think first, write second, and not the other way round, if you know what I mean. So – no NaNo for me. But I wish everyone taking part all the very, very best!
6 Comments
Nicole Melanson
No NaNo for me either. I have zero problem churning out words. Bigger issue for me is scaling back. I’ve just hacked 20K off my WIP and decided that I am going into my next novel with a *really* clear outline instead of just going hell for leather at the keyboard!
cassandrahamer@hotmail.com
So interesting how differently every writer approaches the task. I find that once words are on the page it’s a bit like they’re cast in stone.. so I have to make sure they’re the right ones to begin with. Cutting/deleting thousands of words breaks my heart, but I know it has to be done. Cass
Kali
I’m kind of NaNoing. I set myself a target to finish the first draft my next manuscript by Christmas. 10K words done so far this week. I’m sure closer to Christmas it’ll be a different story.
cassandrahamer@hotmail.com
Nice one Kali. 10k words in a week is fantastic! I’m finding it inspiring to hear about all these writers really pushing on with their work, so even though I’m not officially part of it, I still feel the impetus behind it. Cassie
Deborah
Glad your Uni assignments are done and dusted!
I missed the whole middlebrow thing though think I saw reference in a tweet somewhere but didn’t know what it was about.
I didn’t ‘love’ The Landing. It kinda went nowhere for me and I didn’t enjoy the characters that much either!
PS. I haven’t heard of The Knick either – I agree it seems to have gotten minimal publicity!
cassandrahamer@hotmail.com
Hey Deb. Yes – the whole middlebrow thing became quite the debate, with a few people responding in the end to the original piece. ‘The Landing’ really grew on me. At certain points, I wondered where we were headed, but frankly I was happy to sit back and enjoy the ride, wherever it went, or didn’t go. I quite like that type of observational writing about everyday life. As for ‘The Knick’ – it has heaps of plot and action. As long as you’re not squeamish, I think you’d like it. Cassie
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