Alison
this is wandering about on the topic, but the other day I found out
that Patrick White's marvellous Nobel acceptance speech was on the
web, at:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1973/white-autobio.html
now of such public utterances of its kind I think it stands out a
former mile, or point something plus of a kilometer. Whether or not
he's telling the truth, I like the feeling of someone trying to do so,
he's among the the very few writers I would have liked to have met,
there's something about the Murdoch-excoriated cantankerous Old Puffta
that goes well with me.
Care
Dave
2008/8/26 Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>:
> Yes, that's an interesting passage; it struck me too, and in the same
> way, although I don't think he's saying that it "kills" the artist's
> work, just that those facts can stick in the mind and colour your
> responses. But (confession here) the end had me in tears. Bruce
> Chatwin is, as you might imagine, rather controversial among
> Indigenous people here...
>
> I'm not getting into an argument about Pound!
>
> xA
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 9:50 AM, David Bircumshaw
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Alison
>>
>> I found it a fascinating book, but also 'moving' is a word that never
>> occurred to me. I wrote one or two posts while you were off this list
>> that referred to it and I most defintely will re-read it again in the
>> near future and get back to you on this. But, his involvement with the
>> martial arts, yes, that came across strongly. Taekwondo clubs are
>> springing up here, in the 'working-class' areas, just as karate clubs
>> used to in the early 70s.
>>
>> One of the things that made me doubt him was his bit on 'killer facts'
>> wherein he talks about 'killer facts' when an artist's peccadilloes
>> being revealed can kill that artist's work for him: he uses the
>> example of Saint-Saens' odd private habits and no longer being able to
>> listen to 'The Swan'.
>>
>> Now just after reading that I went to a concert that included 'The
>> Swan' ( and I didn't know about Saint-Saens' little habits before Ross
>> gossipy mentioned it) and it made no difference at all. It only
>> matters when people's failings get inextricably mixed up with a
>> message (viz the Pound of the Cantos, or the Lawrence of ''The Plumed
>> Serpent')
>>
>> You know about Bruce Chatwin, and what a world-class liar he was, it
>> does matter in his travelogues, like 'Songlines', but not in 'Utz',
>> which is rather beautiful.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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