Back to this very rewarding exercise.....
1940 to 1949
Again, not sure if it was the criteria the editor used in her selections, but suddenly the whole tone and style changes in this decade, like they all jumped forward into another Age. There's seven stories in this group, and six of them are absolutely great, each make me want to dig up some more of the writer's work.
A word on the lesser one before I rabbit on - it was well written and thoughtful and all that, but it just didn't move me. It surprised me though, as it was a "gay" story, a woman musing very longingly about another woman, but it wasn't that per se, it was the fact that it was published in Australia in the 1940s when we were all still a pretty conservative lot.
The others six? - they have a fresh zippy style that would not look any way out of place today, and over a range of subjects and settings - a married woman having an affair - an aboriginal story (my fav) - the interaction between a couple of kids - tough labouring working men dealing with life on the wharves - an Italian POW sorting out a bone lazy small-block farmer - and a tongue-in-cheek study of 3 mates stirring each other up in the pub. Loved them all.
An extract from the workingman one, a young bloke's description of his much older mate, such a refreshing change from the "old" overwritten literary styles that were fashionable before this -
"... a hard doer and a bit of a Pagan, that's all. Three convictions, one for stealing firewood during the Depression, one for punching a policeman during the '28 strike, and one for travelling on an expired railway ticket - also during the Depression. Across one cheek the scar of a wound received at Gallipoli. A limp in his right leg from an old waterfront accident. Screwy arms and shoulders from too much freezer work in the days when every possible job had to be stood up for...."
- and the old bloke is right there, on the page. Love it. Looking forward to the 1950s.
Cheers.....
T.R.E.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>