Yep, definitely leaning towards focusing on Sugar Heaven. This is at least partly because I haven't managed to progress beyond the first half of The Butcher Shop and can't see myself reading any of her other novels before I have to start writing something for this project, and also partly because circling this one novel gives a nice scope.
The real question is moving away from 'what' and towards 'if'...
Showing posts with label Devanny Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devanny Project. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Devanny Project Diary, Entry 8
Somewhere in the universe, there may or may not exist a "database" of historical photos, which may or may not be connected to Jean Devanny in a way I'm not at liberty to discuss.
This database may or may not contain the following description concerning a blurry photograph of a man holding a snake:
"This venomous 7 horse power diesel engined man eating morning after the night before snake killed ten men and ate 29 dogs before Patem Alley with his usual courageous determination captured it alive after spending 9 sleepless weeks tracking the monster to its lair in the heart of the merciless hot jungle"
This description may or may not be a complete fabrication by someone who may or may not have been testing to see if anyone was ever actually going to read the data put into the database - this being pure conjecture as it seems to have taken several years for someone to read that particular entry (which may or may not exist), and the identity of whoever originally entered it (who also may or may not exist) is lost in the sands of time.
It's flippin' hilarious, though. Slightly misleading, but flippin' hilarious.
I can't help but think Jean would have approved.
This database may or may not contain the following description concerning a blurry photograph of a man holding a snake:
"This venomous 7 horse power diesel engined man eating morning after the night before snake killed ten men and ate 29 dogs before Patem Alley with his usual courageous determination captured it alive after spending 9 sleepless weeks tracking the monster to its lair in the heart of the merciless hot jungle"
This description may or may not be a complete fabrication by someone who may or may not have been testing to see if anyone was ever actually going to read the data put into the database - this being pure conjecture as it seems to have taken several years for someone to read that particular entry (which may or may not exist), and the identity of whoever originally entered it (who also may or may not exist) is lost in the sands of time.
It's flippin' hilarious, though. Slightly misleading, but flippin' hilarious.
I can't help but think Jean would have approved.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 7
Cyclone Yasi
So, it turns out that the cyclone I was pathetically whining about in the last post wasn't inconvenient so much as massive and devastating.
I was expecting a bit of damage. Instead, Silkwood has practically been wiped out, Tully isn't doing so well and no one is even mentioning Mourilyan. I don't know if that's a good sign or not.
Obviously, my thoughts are with the people who live in the region, but I'm also thinking about the history.
When a massive catastrophe hits a town, most people are justifiably thinking about saving lives and loved ones, but there was at least one museum in that region at some point. After Cyclone Larry, I was wondering if it would still be there. After Yasi, I'm guessing it probably isn't.
What happens to the local collections in the small community museums when the towns are taken out by flood, fire or storm? You can't think about these things when there's a major disaster looming with the promise of death and destruction, but how many of those small museums have disaster plans for their collections?
So, it turns out that the cyclone I was pathetically whining about in the last post wasn't inconvenient so much as massive and devastating.
I was expecting a bit of damage. Instead, Silkwood has practically been wiped out, Tully isn't doing so well and no one is even mentioning Mourilyan. I don't know if that's a good sign or not.
Obviously, my thoughts are with the people who live in the region, but I'm also thinking about the history.
When a massive catastrophe hits a town, most people are justifiably thinking about saving lives and loved ones, but there was at least one museum in that region at some point. After Cyclone Larry, I was wondering if it would still be there. After Yasi, I'm guessing it probably isn't.
What happens to the local collections in the small community museums when the towns are taken out by flood, fire or storm? You can't think about these things when there's a major disaster looming with the promise of death and destruction, but how many of those small museums have disaster plans for their collections?
Monday, January 31, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 6
Storm Surge/Cyclone
Darn these inconvenient massive weather events. Here I was, thinking: "That whole Innisfail region has had a couple of years to recover from the last cyclone, it's probably a good time to go up for a bit of a field trip. I can take a look at the local museums and libraries, figure out exactly how to pronounce Mourilyan, take some pictures and footage I could use for projections..."
And then we go and get ourselves a massive cyclone that is going to cause storm surges all up the coast of northern Queensland, and probably make landfall between Cairns and Innisfail. And, of course, we all know that the areas south of the cyclone get the worst winds and rain.
I'm still hoping to get up there around Easter-ish, but I was hoping to see the place in it's non-weather-ravaged form. It's bad enough that the historic sugar mill at Mourilyan was so badly damaged during the last cyclone that it stopped functioning.
Weather! Stop making a mess of things!
Darn these inconvenient massive weather events. Here I was, thinking: "That whole Innisfail region has had a couple of years to recover from the last cyclone, it's probably a good time to go up for a bit of a field trip. I can take a look at the local museums and libraries, figure out exactly how to pronounce Mourilyan, take some pictures and footage I could use for projections..."
And then we go and get ourselves a massive cyclone that is going to cause storm surges all up the coast of northern Queensland, and probably make landfall between Cairns and Innisfail. And, of course, we all know that the areas south of the cyclone get the worst winds and rain.
I'm still hoping to get up there around Easter-ish, but I was hoping to see the place in it's non-weather-ravaged form. It's bad enough that the historic sugar mill at Mourilyan was so badly damaged during the last cyclone that it stopped functioning.
Weather! Stop making a mess of things!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 5
Reflections on Sugar Heaven
What a daft way to end a book. Sure, there was a final, exultant proclamation about how much better the working men were as people now that they had organised themselves and tried to fight for their rights, but in terms of the story it was a real let down.
It's not so much that they lost the strike. I kind of new that would happen. It's the way everything took three chapters to peter into nothing.
Sugar Heaven is an oddly uneven book. It spends its time veering wildly between "reportage" and soap opera. One minute you're reading a gripping account of an altercation between the workers and the scabs at the mill, the next minute you're reading about Dulcie hating her husband's ex-wife (until she actually meets her, and then they become best friends - practically love at first sight).
And then, at the end, it goes from "we must reclaim our place on the land to make sure we are in a position to do better next time" to Dulcie being shocked at the existence of legal prostitution (and that somehow leading to her decision to have a baby) and Bill's confession to Hefty (of what, exactly?).
I have a feeling that the end was actually foreshadowed throughout the book. Hefty's taunt in the first few chapters that he had paid for as much as Dulcie had given him so far (leading to her thinking very poorly of him, but for all the wrong reasons*). The references to the fact that Bill doesn't look very well. Elsie's occasional comments that she had a right to flaunt her affair in front of Bill after what he did... Then at the end the concept of regulated prostitution is raised, with the idea put forward that "legal" prostitutes are regularly checked by a doctor, which implies that "illegal" prostitutes may have all sorts of diseases...
The final conversation between Hefty and Bill reveals nothing, but you are left wondering if Bill's great sin - the reason why he seems unwell and his wife is perfectly fine with taking a lover - is the contraction of a sexually transmitted disease from an illegal prostitute.
But, really, is that any way to end a book? Bill confesses something to Hefty that we have to guess from the context of the clues scattered throughout the novel; both men agree that all working class men in the area are intellectually better off now that they have gone through the strike and are on the verge of joining the Communist Party; the end.
It's not the lack of closure, it's the way things suddenly revert back to the soap opera, without quite letting go of the propaganda. The propaganda was easier to stomach when we were talking about the strike - not so much with the sudden prostitution and babies subplot.
*Dulcie's character arc in this novel is annoying. She has every right to object to the fact that her husband had been previously married and had visited prostitutes - especially since he neglected to tell her about this until after marrying her and taking her far away from her friends and family. However, she was also "unthinking" and stubborn, objecting to things purely because she felt they were objectionable, and not because she actually knew why they were objectionable. All that malarky about trying to insist Hefty didn't go any where near anyone or anything connected with his ex-wife, even though he was happy to think of Elsie as Bill's wife and leave it at that. Her fear of being seen in public with a man (any man) who wasn't her husband (what would people say!)... You just wanted to smack her in the head (hence, my last entry). And then, even her "growth" through the strike and the way it encouraged her to think for the first time was also kind of annoying.
I think we were supposed to follow a similar awakening to Dulcie, but her character really just exists so people can explain things to her (and, by association, us) within the context of the novel - so the book didn't spiral into report, rather than reportage. Like that character in Twister who was just there so people could tell her about tornadoes.
What a daft way to end a book. Sure, there was a final, exultant proclamation about how much better the working men were as people now that they had organised themselves and tried to fight for their rights, but in terms of the story it was a real let down.
It's not so much that they lost the strike. I kind of new that would happen. It's the way everything took three chapters to peter into nothing.
Sugar Heaven is an oddly uneven book. It spends its time veering wildly between "reportage" and soap opera. One minute you're reading a gripping account of an altercation between the workers and the scabs at the mill, the next minute you're reading about Dulcie hating her husband's ex-wife (until she actually meets her, and then they become best friends - practically love at first sight).
And then, at the end, it goes from "we must reclaim our place on the land to make sure we are in a position to do better next time" to Dulcie being shocked at the existence of legal prostitution (and that somehow leading to her decision to have a baby) and Bill's confession to Hefty (of what, exactly?).
I have a feeling that the end was actually foreshadowed throughout the book. Hefty's taunt in the first few chapters that he had paid for as much as Dulcie had given him so far (leading to her thinking very poorly of him, but for all the wrong reasons*). The references to the fact that Bill doesn't look very well. Elsie's occasional comments that she had a right to flaunt her affair in front of Bill after what he did... Then at the end the concept of regulated prostitution is raised, with the idea put forward that "legal" prostitutes are regularly checked by a doctor, which implies that "illegal" prostitutes may have all sorts of diseases...
The final conversation between Hefty and Bill reveals nothing, but you are left wondering if Bill's great sin - the reason why he seems unwell and his wife is perfectly fine with taking a lover - is the contraction of a sexually transmitted disease from an illegal prostitute.
But, really, is that any way to end a book? Bill confesses something to Hefty that we have to guess from the context of the clues scattered throughout the novel; both men agree that all working class men in the area are intellectually better off now that they have gone through the strike and are on the verge of joining the Communist Party; the end.
It's not the lack of closure, it's the way things suddenly revert back to the soap opera, without quite letting go of the propaganda. The propaganda was easier to stomach when we were talking about the strike - not so much with the sudden prostitution and babies subplot.
*Dulcie's character arc in this novel is annoying. She has every right to object to the fact that her husband had been previously married and had visited prostitutes - especially since he neglected to tell her about this until after marrying her and taking her far away from her friends and family. However, she was also "unthinking" and stubborn, objecting to things purely because she felt they were objectionable, and not because she actually knew why they were objectionable. All that malarky about trying to insist Hefty didn't go any where near anyone or anything connected with his ex-wife, even though he was happy to think of Elsie as Bill's wife and leave it at that. Her fear of being seen in public with a man (any man) who wasn't her husband (what would people say!)... You just wanted to smack her in the head (hence, my last entry). And then, even her "growth" through the strike and the way it encouraged her to think for the first time was also kind of annoying.
I think we were supposed to follow a similar awakening to Dulcie, but her character really just exists so people can explain things to her (and, by association, us) within the context of the novel - so the book didn't spiral into report, rather than reportage. Like that character in Twister who was just there so people could tell her about tornadoes.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 3
Building on the last idea:
Perhaps, instead of a "documentary" with live readings, there could be a number of "narrators" onstage.
One tells the story of Jean Devanny's life, one tells the story that is written in the novel, one tells the history of the strikes and the politics/people involved. And, of course, the reader, whose sole purpose is to read the passages of the novel which frame the discussion.
Still record interviews which can be projected, but the role of narrator that you usually get with documentaries can be split amongst people who actually move around and interact with each other on stage - making it more "live" and interesting.
Question: Can this be structured in such a way that it could be performed by one person, if necessary? Should it be? Four people on stage would be more interesting to watch, but one person would travel more easily...
Perhaps, instead of a "documentary" with live readings, there could be a number of "narrators" onstage.
One tells the story of Jean Devanny's life, one tells the story that is written in the novel, one tells the history of the strikes and the politics/people involved. And, of course, the reader, whose sole purpose is to read the passages of the novel which frame the discussion.
Still record interviews which can be projected, but the role of narrator that you usually get with documentaries can be split amongst people who actually move around and interact with each other on stage - making it more "live" and interesting.
Question: Can this be structured in such a way that it could be performed by one person, if necessary? Should it be? Four people on stage would be more interesting to watch, but one person would travel more easily...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 2
An Idea
"Sugar! Jean Devanny, Sugar Heaven and the 1935 Can Cutter's Strikes"
Tell the story of the strikes, Devanny's interest in them and the book - dipping into "reportage", but mostly telling the story of the people who worked and lived in the area, how they inspired the novel, what Devanny hoped to do with the book and how the book has been recieved over the years.
Put together a more or less honest-to-goodness documentary with filmed interviews. On stage, those interviews would be projected onto a number of screens, and framed by a performer reading excerpts from the book.
Recording the readings, the whole thing could be cut together as a DVD...
"Sugar! Jean Devanny, Sugar Heaven and the 1935 Can Cutter's Strikes"
Tell the story of the strikes, Devanny's interest in them and the book - dipping into "reportage", but mostly telling the story of the people who worked and lived in the area, how they inspired the novel, what Devanny hoped to do with the book and how the book has been recieved over the years.
Put together a more or less honest-to-goodness documentary with filmed interviews. On stage, those interviews would be projected onto a number of screens, and framed by a performer reading excerpts from the book.
Recording the readings, the whole thing could be cut together as a DVD...
Friday, January 21, 2011
Devanny Project Diary Entry 1
Yesterday we started talking in earnest about the idea of using Museum Theatre to “open up” the Special Collections to the public. Bronwyn and I had half talked about it last year, saying “we should do it”, but not really getting much beyond that. She had dozens of projects to work on, and asked to hold off discussions until January.
I had been thinking about MT on Wednesday afternoon, and that night I was thinking about what collections we might have that would be “dramatic” enough to make a good first project. Jean Devanny’s name popped into my mind. I knew we’d had at least one visiting scholar in to see the collection in the last couple of years. Plus, Cheryl Taylor and Shirley (forgotten her last name atm) were doing some project on Devanny a couple of years back.
Mentioned it to Bronwyn, who said the Devanny collection was one of the suggestions for “first cab of the rank” for the digitisation project. We could tie the digitisation of the collection into the performance and make it some kind of “launch” for the digital collection.
Tossed a few loose ideas around concerning the extent of the project – taking it on tour to the local areas with funds from Playing Australia? Trying to tie it in with one of the local industries to get sponsorship?
Neither of us know much about Devanny beyond the name. Decided the next step was for me to "get to know her". Borrowed some books from Main and checked for biographies online. Nothing on Wikipedia. Used Ron Store’s brief biography and skimmed Ferrier’s book to put a quick and dirty entry on Wikipedia. Better than nothing, and hopefully more successful than my last attempt to add to Wikipedia (the Handball Incident).
Started reading Sugar Heaven, reading the Introduction to the 2002 edition first. So far, not bad. Interesting to encounter a mix of place names I’m very familiar with alongside ones I’ve never heard of. Are they still around, but I’ve never noticed them? Have they disappeared since 1936?
First thoughts:
• Tell the story of Devanny’s life by using her novels to highlight where she was “at” at the time.
• Communist propaganda. Her novels as propaganda, her tour through North Queensland and the Communist movement in NQ at the time.
• The 1935 strikes in particular – talk about her interest, writing this particular book, the history of the strikes and the outcomes. Maybe mixing in stories from cane cutters.
• “The Red North – Jean Devanny and Evangelical Communism in Queensland”
• “Fact in the Form of Fiction – Jean Devanny and the Art of Reportage”
Decided today that I really should be a member of IMTAL to add some weight to any proposals. Tried to join IMTAL-Europe (but had difficulty with the online forms), but discovered the Australasian version has advanced since I last looked at them. Not to the point where you can actually use their website to find out how to join, though.
The IMTAL conference is going to be in Melbourne this year, and the call for papers closes in April. We might be able to swing a little more prestige by bringing the possibility of an international conference…
I had been thinking about MT on Wednesday afternoon, and that night I was thinking about what collections we might have that would be “dramatic” enough to make a good first project. Jean Devanny’s name popped into my mind. I knew we’d had at least one visiting scholar in to see the collection in the last couple of years. Plus, Cheryl Taylor and Shirley (forgotten her last name atm) were doing some project on Devanny a couple of years back.
Mentioned it to Bronwyn, who said the Devanny collection was one of the suggestions for “first cab of the rank” for the digitisation project. We could tie the digitisation of the collection into the performance and make it some kind of “launch” for the digital collection.
Tossed a few loose ideas around concerning the extent of the project – taking it on tour to the local areas with funds from Playing Australia? Trying to tie it in with one of the local industries to get sponsorship?
Neither of us know much about Devanny beyond the name. Decided the next step was for me to "get to know her". Borrowed some books from Main and checked for biographies online. Nothing on Wikipedia. Used Ron Store’s brief biography and skimmed Ferrier’s book to put a quick and dirty entry on Wikipedia. Better than nothing, and hopefully more successful than my last attempt to add to Wikipedia (the Handball Incident).
Started reading Sugar Heaven, reading the Introduction to the 2002 edition first. So far, not bad. Interesting to encounter a mix of place names I’m very familiar with alongside ones I’ve never heard of. Are they still around, but I’ve never noticed them? Have they disappeared since 1936?
First thoughts:
• Tell the story of Devanny’s life by using her novels to highlight where she was “at” at the time.
• Communist propaganda. Her novels as propaganda, her tour through North Queensland and the Communist movement in NQ at the time.
• The 1935 strikes in particular – talk about her interest, writing this particular book, the history of the strikes and the outcomes. Maybe mixing in stories from cane cutters.
• “The Red North – Jean Devanny and Evangelical Communism in Queensland”
• “Fact in the Form of Fiction – Jean Devanny and the Art of Reportage”
Decided today that I really should be a member of IMTAL to add some weight to any proposals. Tried to join IMTAL-Europe (but had difficulty with the online forms), but discovered the Australasian version has advanced since I last looked at them. Not to the point where you can actually use their website to find out how to join, though.
The IMTAL conference is going to be in Melbourne this year, and the call for papers closes in April. We might be able to swing a little more prestige by bringing the possibility of an international conference…
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