Essays
The Large Chestnut in the Garden: On Marina Tsvetaeva
The heavy wooden door of the house is shut. I knock a few times and then move to the other side of the street. There, sitting against the wall of a house, I begin to scribble and sketch in my notebook, waiting and hoping that the door of the house might suddenly open. Maybe then I could peep inside and see the wooden stairway that Marina daily walked up to reach her apartment on the second floor. The miracle doesn’t happen.’
‘No Award’: The Miles Franklin in 1973
No award’ was the determination of the judges of the 1973 Miles Franklin Award. This decision, writes Patrick Allington, ‘offers a misleading snapshot of the state of Ozlit in 1973 – but it is an accurate reflection of a low point in the history of the Miles Franklin…The sixty-year history of the Miles Franklin, including the judges’ shifting understanding of what ‘Australian life in any of its phases’ means, offers a chance to take stock of Australian life in many of its phases.’
The Opposite of Glamour
It is a tragedy for the planet’s wild creatures if they disappear: it is also a tragedy for us. If we lose all but our most domesticated companions, do we risk becoming something less than the humans we once were? Can we bear to live with just ourselves?’
Going To The Silences
I thought we’d be a good match, Miles and I. We share a background – we’re both writers, both country girls, both have the love of silence and horses and a tendency to romanticize these things. I recognize her ambition and I relate to her disappointments and her isolation. I thought the idea of fictionalizing her fictional autobiography, to fictionalize her historical self had merit.