In short
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday February 12, 2011
Nonfiction THE REPUBLIC OF LEARNINGGlyn DavisABC Books, 127pp, $24.99Certain critics of the ABC like to whip themselves into a frenzy when they see a hint of commercialism in the corporation's activities. Yet they were strangely silent when Glyn Davis, in last year's Boyer Lectures (now in print form), adopted a surreal combination of Pollyanna and P.T.Barnum and spent all the lectures loudly declaring universities were wonderful, flawless institutions full of wise academics teaching eternal truths to students eager to learn and committed to enriching the intellectual life of the country.Not a word about overcrowded classes, the endless commercialisation of tertiary education, the lack of free places for financially disadvantaged students, the crappy quality of so many so-called teachers and, most critically, the serious oversupply of graduates which sees overqualified people having to work as taxi drivers and telemarketers.BALLETS RUSSES STYLEMary E. DavisReaktion Books, 256pp, $44.95The centenary of the formation of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris was in 2009. Given the ballet company surrounded itself with a who's who of Europe's avant-garde artistic talent between 1909 and its demise in 1929 (the dancers included Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina and Michel Fokine and the commissioned composers included Eric Satie, Richard Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev and, most famously, Igor Stravinsky), it seems appropriate that this book combines a lively history of the troupe with detailed assessments of the set and costume designs.What an amazing collection of artists Diaghilev managed to employ. Here are the stories behind the work that was carried out for Diaghilev by Pablo Picasso, Georgio de Chirico, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli.This is suitable pre-reading for those heading to the National Gallery's Ballets Russes exhibition.WILLIAM DOBELLElizabeth DonaldsonExisle Publishing, 208pp, $49.99There are two kinds of biographies of artists: the well-illustrated, fact-laden account of an interesting life, and the critical evaluation of a creative genius. This handsome publication, with its 104 illustrations (75 in colour), lies in the former category. It is a detailed account of Dobell's life from his working-class roots in Newcastle through his time with Julian Ashton in Sydney and at the Slade Gallery in London. It tells of his years of hardship and anonymity in London and his return to Australia.It covers in great detail the absurdity of the Joshua Smith Archibald Prize case, the illness caused by the tension of the court case, his productive trip to New Guinea and his decision to retreat to the family home at Wangi on Lake Macquarie. The appeal of this book lies primarily in its excellent captions and the way the text dovetails around the paintings.Pick of the weekEVOLVING ENGLISHDavid CrystalBritish Library, 158pp, $36.95It has been popular over the past couple of decades for non-academic dilettantes to write histories of the English language. Think only of Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue and Melvyn Bragg's The Adventure of English. Here is the perfect complement to those books: a wonderfully rich collection of examples of evolving English from the archives of the British Library.The style of the book is simple. An image of the original manuscript is placed beside a translation (if necessary) and a brief informative description that highlights the linguistic qualities of the text. Thus the first English song, or at least the first one written down, Sumer is icumen in, which dates from 1225-1250, is accompanied by a translation and a description of how the song was collected by monks at Reading Abbey; that it is the oldest known "round" and the monk added the Latin text of Christ's passion below the song and brief notes on the letters and punctuation used in the text.The collection is a wonderland of the English language. Every page is fascinating. There is, for example, a page from A Boke of Kokery (A Book of Cookery) from 1440, which includes a menu for a banquet put on by Richard II on September 23, 1387, which included 12 gallons of cream, 50 swans and 11,000 eggs. The first course included the very exotic "Veneson with ffurmenty". For those unfamiliar with medieval cooking ffurmenty was wheat boiled in milk.The collection stretches from Chaucer, the St James translation of the Bible and Shakespeare through to such charming exotica as The Good Child's Book of Stops (1825).
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald