Found this very cool meme on Genevieve’s You Cried for Night blog. I had to do it, even if my knowledge of Australian literature is extremely patchy.
1) Which Australian poem are you most confident you could recite from memory?
Does Advance Australia Fair count as an Australian poem? But wait, I only know the first verse, anyway. Hmmph. The only other poem I can even begin to recite is My Country by Dorothea Mackellar, and even then only the second verse! Embarrassing…
2) Which of the Seven Little Australians are you?
Bunty! Love the name.
3) Which is your favourite Patrick White novel?
Guilty admissions time: I haven’t read a single P White novel.
4) Which is the best Patrick White novel?
See 3) above.
5) Which Australian fictional/dramatic/poetic character do you fancy most?
The only one who came to mind was the character in Andrew McGahan’s Praise.
6) And which do you identify with most?
Laura Rambotham, in The Getting of Wisdom. Oh, the angst!
7) If you had to read five Australian poems to a heterogeneous unknown audience, which five would you choose?
Yikes. I don’t know five Australian poems! (I think this needs to be remedied, and soon!)
8) Which five Australian books would you take to a desert island?
Don’t start me talking: lyrics 1984-1999 by Paul Kelly
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson (because it’s been sitting there on the shelf and I haven’t read it yet)
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Ash Road by Ivan Southall
Something by Patrick White (what’s a good introduction to his work?)
9) If you were a guest at Don’s Party, would you be
(a) naked in the pool
(b) upstairs having sex
(c) outside having sex
(d) sulking with a headache
(e) huddled round the TV
(f) crying
(g) more than one of the above (please specify)
(h) other (please specify)
Huddled around the tv, sulking with a headache.
10) Tim Winton or Christos Tsiolkas?
Tim.
11) Banjo Paterson or Henry Lawson?
Henry.
12) Henry Lawson or Barbara Baynton?
Barbara.
13) Was Helen Demidenko guilty, and if so of what?
I have no idea if she was. My first reaction was that her ‘real’ name is Helen Darville, but I don’t know if writing under an assumed name (and identity) is necessarily ‘bad’…
14) What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen at a writers’ festival?
Umm. I’ve never been to a writers’ festival!
Categories: literature, Australia, meme
2 Comments
As sad as it is, you’ve done a lot better on this meme than I would have. Mine would have drawn a lot of blanks… although I did have to study a book of Australian poetry in yr 11. I only remember one poem, and that’s by name. I couldn’t recite it.
I think I’m due for some re-education.
I need re-education too, Miss L. So I’ve started re-reading … Seven Little Australians. Got to work up to Patrick White and A.D. Hope.