I have taken to reading big sprawling family sagas, in response to my current disappointment with much modern fiction. Last year I discovered the Eitingons, forebears of Mary-Kay Wilmer, editor of The London Review of Books. What a family! What a story! Two sides of the Iron Curtain. Leonid, the KGB agent who oversaw the assassination of Trotsky … [Read more...] about Two Twentieth Century Sagas
Archives for March 2011
Beware Bad Language
I was proud and disdainful of the use of swear words by my peers at school and (mostly) at Uni. Those who did displayed a sad lack of language skills and literary imagination was my pompous opinion. I became less precious about it as I got older but the rot really set in when I worked with the AMIEU (you will have to look that up if you don't know … [Read more...] about Beware Bad Language
Folk Finale
Well I have been off to my final Port Fairy Folk Festival. For a little while at least. We started when our son and his friend were in Year 7. They both completed their first year of university last year and mine is preparing for the Grand Tour of old Europe. So eight years later I am calling it quits. We camped the first year, but that was not … [Read more...] about Folk Finale
Stephen’s Wagner
Stephen Fry's Wagner And Me is a wonderful film. Check out the trailer. It's not just for committed Wagnerians as suggested by one reviewer, though it is hard me to say - given I am just such a one. And while there is plenty of swoon (another criticism) - that is the whole point. As it says in the title; this is all about Stephen's reactions: … [Read more...] about Stephen’s Wagner