Well said, Matt. I'm upgrading my subscription to you - this is lucid, and only as polemical as this moment needs it to be, which is too rare not to incentivise.
The Canberra edition (they're run by template, of course) is this weekend. Thankfully, someone got Sheila Fitzpatrick, and Darren Rix is promising. Otherwise, all this is true here too. A depressing fate for the place that once hosted parties with Hopes, Wrights, Campbells, and Steads in attendance.
Also, I've always had a quiet laugh at the "festival of trope" [quotation marks sic]. In An Gaeilg (Irish), a ménage à trois is a "Féile na Sé gCos" or "festival of the six feet".
In general, "féile na" (festival of) is mostly used to take the piss out of exactly this kind of self-congratulaion. With so many self-forgotten Celts in attendance, one wonders if it's a Freudian slip.
This is all before I get going on their very carefully presented obsession with adolescent malehood (see Helen Garner's The Season). A Lacan or a Zizek would have a field day with it all. It's a thrill to know I'm less alone than I thought in noticing the rot.
Yes, it’s nice to know one isn’t alone. I’ve received a number of very nice messages about the piece, including a very off-the-record one from someone at RN, who has been forwarding it to his colleagues. You’ll have to link me up to the Canberra one when it’s out.
How very refreshing. I thought the list was disappointingly banal, featuring several of my pet hates. Trent Dalton for one. My hackles rise whenever there is a kid with some sort of special power, that applies to “All the Light we Cannot See” as well. Ploughed through the Dalton grinding my teeth. Obviously written with TV or film in mind. That villain in white, ludicrously overplayed. Will never read another one. Also hated “Lessons in Chemistry”. So smug. Far too much about biting rowing machines. Laid it on very thick, dreadful men stealing all the thunder from brilliant, unappreciated women. Have just finished Ian McEwan’s “All we can Know”. Loved it. Beautifully written, a good corrective to mediocre tripe.
Culture in the early 21st century has fallen into a pit of shit, probably mostly because of the internet and social media. But culture always finds a way and there will be a renaissance, probably when we're too old and out of touch to be able to appreciate it. In fact, we'll probably be dead. Feel better?
Seriously, though, there’s great art and culture everywhere, as well as great conversation about it. We’re having one here, for the most part. It's about knowing where to look.
Wholehearted thanks for your brutal-autopsy incisive insightful excoriating of that RN-ified excruciating-cringe-overcorrection list defaulting to soft soggy moralising middlebrows.
Well said, Matt. I'm upgrading my subscription to you - this is lucid, and only as polemical as this moment needs it to be, which is too rare not to incentivise.
The Canberra edition (they're run by template, of course) is this weekend. Thankfully, someone got Sheila Fitzpatrick, and Darren Rix is promising. Otherwise, all this is true here too. A depressing fate for the place that once hosted parties with Hopes, Wrights, Campbells, and Steads in attendance.
Also, I've always had a quiet laugh at the "festival of trope" [quotation marks sic]. In An Gaeilg (Irish), a ménage à trois is a "Féile na Sé gCos" or "festival of the six feet".
In general, "féile na" (festival of) is mostly used to take the piss out of exactly this kind of self-congratulaion. With so many self-forgotten Celts in attendance, one wonders if it's a Freudian slip.
This is all before I get going on their very carefully presented obsession with adolescent malehood (see Helen Garner's The Season). A Lacan or a Zizek would have a field day with it all. It's a thrill to know I'm less alone than I thought in noticing the rot.
Yes, it’s nice to know one isn’t alone. I’ve received a number of very nice messages about the piece, including a very off-the-record one from someone at RN, who has been forwarding it to his colleagues. You’ll have to link me up to the Canberra one when it’s out.
Fantastic piece, and it didn’t even mention the lack or shocking quality of the non-fiction books that polled (Wifedom notwithstanding).
One must always get a shot in at Wifedom.
Great read mate. Couldn’t agree more.
Thank you. You should have seen me writhing around, at once both disgusted by the outcome and disgusted at myself for caring.
How very refreshing. I thought the list was disappointingly banal, featuring several of my pet hates. Trent Dalton for one. My hackles rise whenever there is a kid with some sort of special power, that applies to “All the Light we Cannot See” as well. Ploughed through the Dalton grinding my teeth. Obviously written with TV or film in mind. That villain in white, ludicrously overplayed. Will never read another one. Also hated “Lessons in Chemistry”. So smug. Far too much about biting rowing machines. Laid it on very thick, dreadful men stealing all the thunder from brilliant, unappreciated women. Have just finished Ian McEwan’s “All we can Know”. Loved it. Beautifully written, a good corrective to mediocre tripe.
Culture in the early 21st century has fallen into a pit of shit, probably mostly because of the internet and social media. But culture always finds a way and there will be a renaissance, probably when we're too old and out of touch to be able to appreciate it. In fact, we'll probably be dead. Feel better?
Contemplating the sweet embrace of death? Sure.
Seriously, though, there’s great art and culture everywhere, as well as great conversation about it. We’re having one here, for the most part. It's about knowing where to look.
Wholehearted thanks for your brutal-autopsy incisive insightful excoriating of that RN-ified excruciating-cringe-overcorrection list defaulting to soft soggy moralising middlebrows.