After a night of drenching rain, the air is sodden and cool. Water still runs from the trees; silvered asparagus ferns bow into the sunburnt grass. If I knew how to speak in the language of prayer, I might say something about supplicants and blessings.
Have all of you who are interested in reading the Geoffrey Hill poems together now acquired a copy? If yes, let me know here and we will begin plotting our mode of conversation.
I am also wondering if anyone of you might be familiar with this book--The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding, by Robert Hughes. It is a history of Australia's colonization, published in 1986, and the back cover has blurbs by a startling group of readers, including Arthur Schlesinger, Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Peter Matthiessen, and William Shawcross. I found it at the Goodwill and have no idea if it will be worth reading, but I thought I might give it a try.
Meanwhile on Monday, my son was sweeping Faulkner, Sam Shepard, Lysistrata, and Frederick Douglass into his own Goodwill basket and jubilantly telling me he'd just gotten a text from his new college roommate, "who says he loves drawing and literature!" He is so joyful. I am so fortunate.
3 comments:
my latest communication says to expect my copy by the 24th....I do believe they are hand transcribing it!!! Obviously I purchased a "gently used...like new copy" perhaps they are having trouble ironing it smooth!!??!!!
Haven't read The Fatal Shore but over the years it consistently gets the highest praise whenever it's mentioned. Hughes is a very fine writer (his book on Goya is beautifully done in a style without pretensions, and is wonderful) and Fatal Shore garnered at least one major literary prize. Lucky you to find a cheap copy. :)
I've read Hughes's work, especially his excellent art criticism. As David says above, he's a very fine writer. "Fatal Shore' is unstinting in its exposure of specific English brutalities in the penal colony. It's a remarkable story and not an easy one to take.
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