TY - CHAP
T1 - Landscape within landscape
T2 - The intertwining of the visible and the invisible in Gerald Murnane and Henry James
AU - Gibson, Suzie
N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index.
PY - 2020/3/2
Y1 - 2020/3/2
N2 - At the 2017 “Another World in This One” symposium – held at Gerald Murnane’s beloved Goroke Golf Club – I could not pass up the opportunity of asking this Australian writer about Henry James, especially as his book A Million Windows (2014) pays homage to the preface of The Portrait of a Lady.1 I was keen to know what Murnane thought about such an influential Victorian novelist. To my surprise, he said that James’ novels “have no landscape”. This comment, presumably meant as a criticism, seemed logical at the time, uttered as it was in the rural context where Murnane was most at home. My immediate response was to agree, since Murnane’s writing contemplates sweeping vistas that contrast sharply with James’ crowded metropolitan spheres. But the more I thought about this comment the more I came to the conclusion that James’ novels do have landscape – just not the kind of terrain that Murnane prefers.
AB - At the 2017 “Another World in This One” symposium – held at Gerald Murnane’s beloved Goroke Golf Club – I could not pass up the opportunity of asking this Australian writer about Henry James, especially as his book A Million Windows (2014) pays homage to the preface of The Portrait of a Lady.1 I was keen to know what Murnane thought about such an influential Victorian novelist. To my surprise, he said that James’ novels “have no landscape”. This comment, presumably meant as a criticism, seemed logical at the time, uttered as it was in the rural context where Murnane was most at home. My immediate response was to agree, since Murnane’s writing contemplates sweeping vistas that contrast sharply with James’ crowded metropolitan spheres. But the more I thought about this comment the more I came to the conclusion that James’ novels do have landscape – just not the kind of terrain that Murnane prefers.
KW - Gerald Murnane and Henry James
UR - https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/126863
UR - https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/126863
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9781743326404
T3 - Sydney Studies in Australian Literature
SP - 103
EP - 118
BT - Gerald Murnane
A2 - Uhlmann, Anthony
PB - Sydney University Press
CY - University of Sydney, NSW
ER -