John Shaw Neilson review

[David Campbell]

There was an interesting review of a book about John Shaw Neilson in Saturday's Age and SMH...you can find it at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/boo ... 2cl37.html

The reviewer (Michael McGirr) made a passing remark disparaging Neilson's love of the limerick and Stephen wrote a very good letter in The Age by way of response, which you can find here (scroll down to 'Delve deeper'): http://www.theage.com.au/national/lette ... 2cneg.html

Not sure why limericks are so often rubbished...they can be great fun, and quite challenging to write.

McGirr also made this intriguing statement about Neilson: 'Along with Mary Gilmore and Joseph Furphy, he is one of a small number of contemplatives who have taken our literature to deeper and quieter places than either the driven tempo of our celebrated bush ballads or the gothic narratives of our early fiction could possibly negotiate.'

A few thoughts to ponder in that! McGirr would probably disagree, but I'd argue that Lawson, Paterson and Dennis all had the capacity, at times, to explore those 'deeper and quieter places'.

Cheers
David

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, David. Yes, I would agree. Any thoughts about the early gothic narratives? They had me stumped, I must admit.

[Neville Briggs]

I read the links, David.

I have a copy of the book being reviewed and I have read it.

I am not familiar with Joseph Furphy or Dame Mary Gilmour to the extent that I could comment on any comparison.
Apart from than that I agree fully with what McGirr has to say in his review.
I have read other bush balladists I think Neilson has indeed managed to go to " deeper and quieter " places in some works. Maybe Paterson, Lawson and Dennis sometimes went to deep and quiet places. I think Neilson went further.

But some of his work in this book, don't seem to go much deeper than Victorian sentimentality.

Having read this book, I take it that McGirr's intention is not to " rubbish " limericks. When I read the book I thought that Neilson was trying to work in a form ( limericks ) that did not suit his voice. In other words Neilson's attempts at limericks are pretty woeful, rather than limericks as a form are no good. That's what I thought, and McGirr seems to confirm my view.

I can only guess that the " gothic narratives" might be a reference to Henry Lawson's stories about stark tragedy and loss and poverty , e.g. His Father's Mate, Arvie Aspinall's Alarm Clock, Two Boys at Grinder Bros. Jones' Alley.

[Stephen Whiteside]

That's not the impression I got from the review, Neville. If that's what McGirr was trying to say, then he expressed himself very poorly, but I'm not convinced he was.

[David Campbell]

I have to agree with Stephen, Neville...McGirr seems to dismiss limericks in general. I guess it's the phrase 'weakness for the limerick'. Lots of famous writers have had fun with limericks, including Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, H. G. Wells, T. S. Eliot...some people even argue that Shakespeare included the limerick form in some of his plays, although that's a dubious claim.

Although you could well be right about the 'gothic narratives'...that term had me mystified, too.

Cheers
David

[Neville Briggs]

Maybe McGirr will respond to Stephen's letter, that might settle the issue.

I quite enjoy limericks, but I was not " grabbed " by John Shaw Neilson's version of limerick writing. He had the form, the metre and rhyme OK but they just seem a bit flat to me.

Ogden Nash is my all time favourite for limericks.

[David Campbell]

Agree re Nash. He seemed to like writing short pieces in all forms. I have a book of his called 'Everyone but Thee and Me' and, although not a limerick, here's a good example:

What a pity that aspic
Doesn't rhyme with elastic,
Because gee whiz,
It is.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Part of my irritation with the article related to defence of the limerick. But there was another aspect to it.

McGirr went out of his way to tell us what a difficult life Neilson had - a life of brain-numbing, unrelenting physical labour, which would have been exquisitely frustrating for somebody with such an active mind as Neilson had. My suspicion is that the writing of limericks was an important emotional outlet for him. For McGirr to imperiously dismiss this entire tranche of his writing seemed especially cruel, insensitive and arrogant.

Sometimes reviewers write as though the writer's psyche and literary output are completely disconnected, which is patently absurd.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Speaking of HG Wells, he wrote to George Robertson thanking him for his complimentary copy of "The Sentimental Bloke", and praising Dennis.

You can find the letter here:
http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/d ... r1916.html

[Neville Briggs]

I haven't heard that one of Nash's, David

My favourite is;

I went to the zoo
to see the old Gnu.
But the old Gnu was dead
there's a new Gnu instead.

For McGirr to imperiously dismiss this entire tranche of his writing seemed especially cruel, insensitive and arrogant.

That's a tough judgement Stephen, are you sure you can find all that in a brief generalised opinion ???