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The Imagined City: Melbourne in the Mind of its Writers
Contains historical illustrations and photographs of early Melbourne
Includes Rolf Boldrewood - Marcus Clarke - Henry Handel Richardson - Ada Cambridge - Brian Fitzpatrick - Martin Boyd - Joan Lindsay - Vance Palmer - Alan Marshall - Hal Porter - George Johnston - Criena Rohan - Serge Liberman - Judah Waten - Barry Oakley - Helen Garner.
Includes Rolf Boldrewood - Marcus Clarke - Henry Handel Richardson - Ada Cambridge - Brian Fitzpatrick - Martin Boyd - Joan Lindsay - Vance Palmer - Alan Marshall - Hal Porter - George Johnston - Criena Rohan - Serge Liberman - Judah Waten - Barry Oakley - Helen Garner.
130 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1983
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August 27, 2019
I’m very thankful that John Arnold decided to write The Imagined City: Melbourne in the mind of its writers in 1983, otherwise I believe Marjorie Clark (pen name Georgia Rivers) would have completely lapsed into obscurity, along with several others featured in the book.
I first came across Marjorie Clark in a La Trobe University article written by Gavin De Lacy dated 2009 - Three Neglected Women Writers of the 1930s: Jean Campbell, ‘Capel Boake’ and ‘Georgia Rivers’. The article (inspired I’m guessing at least in part by Arnold’s book) features the same photo of Clarke as the one featured in The Imagined City. The source of the photo is Clark herself, still alive at the time of writing.
The photo was taken when Clarke was around 20 and I was immediately fascinated by her and wondered what sort of writing she would have created. I was able to obtain a copy of her second novel Tantalego published in 1928 which I have reviewed on Goodreads. It’s a fascinating read. Now that I have read Arnold’s book with an excerpt of her first novel Jacqueline, I’m determined to read that as well.
“The Imagined City chronicles a sense of place. In it 28 of Melbourne’s writers, from George Henry Haydon on Port Phillip society in the 1840s to Helen Garner in the 1970s.” For each writer there is a biography on the left hand page and on the right an excerpt from a chosen book (not always the obvious one). Featured also is a photograph or etching from around the time that the excerpt is set in.
The book features a number of writers I have never heard of. For instance Celeste de Chabrillan who wrote The Gold Robbers 1857. And also Brian Fitzpatrick who wrote The Colonials in 1930 and Leonard Mann author of The Go-getter in 1942 to name a few.
The book also features Capel Boake and an excerpt of The Dark Thread which I read recently, along with an unpublished manuscript of Boake’s - The Flying Shade. Again because of De Lacy’s article and this book.
I hate to say this but the writing in George Johnston’s Clean Straw for Nothing really jumped out at me and I have decided to add it to my TBR pile despite the fact that I feel he did a real disservice (to say the least) to his wife Charmian Clift by hijacking her creation of Cressida Morley and using it in his own work. In fact she killed herself on the eve of the publication of Clean Straw for Nothing.
Another writer I now want to read is Serge Liberman who died only recently. Arnold features an excerpt of Two Years in Exile from On Firmer Shores published in 1981 which I really enjoyed. I must add that while reading the book I kept forgetting that it was compiled nearly 40 years ago and was only reminded of this when I would see the date of birth with no date of death when there should have been. For example Alan Marshal (1902- ).
By writing The Imagined City John Arnold has captured in print (for future readers) writers that might have completely slipped from our consciousness.
I first came across Marjorie Clark in a La Trobe University article written by Gavin De Lacy dated 2009 - Three Neglected Women Writers of the 1930s: Jean Campbell, ‘Capel Boake’ and ‘Georgia Rivers’. The article (inspired I’m guessing at least in part by Arnold’s book) features the same photo of Clarke as the one featured in The Imagined City. The source of the photo is Clark herself, still alive at the time of writing.
The photo was taken when Clarke was around 20 and I was immediately fascinated by her and wondered what sort of writing she would have created. I was able to obtain a copy of her second novel Tantalego published in 1928 which I have reviewed on Goodreads. It’s a fascinating read. Now that I have read Arnold’s book with an excerpt of her first novel Jacqueline, I’m determined to read that as well.
“The Imagined City chronicles a sense of place. In it 28 of Melbourne’s writers, from George Henry Haydon on Port Phillip society in the 1840s to Helen Garner in the 1970s.” For each writer there is a biography on the left hand page and on the right an excerpt from a chosen book (not always the obvious one). Featured also is a photograph or etching from around the time that the excerpt is set in.
The book features a number of writers I have never heard of. For instance Celeste de Chabrillan who wrote The Gold Robbers 1857. And also Brian Fitzpatrick who wrote The Colonials in 1930 and Leonard Mann author of The Go-getter in 1942 to name a few.
The book also features Capel Boake and an excerpt of The Dark Thread which I read recently, along with an unpublished manuscript of Boake’s - The Flying Shade. Again because of De Lacy’s article and this book.
I hate to say this but the writing in George Johnston’s Clean Straw for Nothing really jumped out at me and I have decided to add it to my TBR pile despite the fact that I feel he did a real disservice (to say the least) to his wife Charmian Clift by hijacking her creation of Cressida Morley and using it in his own work. In fact she killed herself on the eve of the publication of Clean Straw for Nothing.
Another writer I now want to read is Serge Liberman who died only recently. Arnold features an excerpt of Two Years in Exile from On Firmer Shores published in 1981 which I really enjoyed. I must add that while reading the book I kept forgetting that it was compiled nearly 40 years ago and was only reminded of this when I would see the date of birth with no date of death when there should have been. For example Alan Marshal (1902- ).
By writing The Imagined City John Arnold has captured in print (for future readers) writers that might have completely slipped from our consciousness.
Displaying 1 of 1 review