Literature Entry Week 2 - David Malouf
This week we looked at David Malouf’s book, ‘Remembering Babylon’. I am going to be honest, and say that I haven’t started reading it yet as I have only just purchased it. But unlike ‘Conversations at Curlow Creek’, which I really struggled with reading and eventually gave up due to the fact that I couldn’t understand what was happening. I think that Babylon sounds a little better and a little easier to read than Curlow, after the tutorial on weds. Not only that but I think that it also sounds like a book that I would usually pick up and read.
What I liked about the things said in the tutorial is that Malouf’s book really contrasts Blake’s poetry and what I have understood about what was spoken about in the tutorial last week and this I think will help me to further my understanding of both of the texts.
Like Ginsberg’s writings last week, Malouf also has the same aspect in the book which is “seeing the beauty of things that usually go unnoticed.” This is what I have gathered from the tutorial is that Malouf wants us to start noticing the things that usually go unnoticed like the bark peeling of a tree, grasshoppers and the beautiful new shinny skin under a scab. I think that we definitely get caught up in the world and the day to day happenings in our lives that we often forget these things and I think that’s why Malouf has highlighted it for us.
The character of Janet I think will be interesting as I think she appears that she is trying to find out who she is and I think that’s a part of all young peoples growing up. This new sensitivity that she gains from noticing the things around her will help her to grow in this new way. Although as was mentioned in the tutorial, that she seems disconnected from her family but if I think about it, it really is because of that time in your life when you are searching for who you are and you just need some space in order to do that. However her new connection with the environment gives her the grounding that she needs and isn’t gaining from her family.
Just a note and it was weird cause I was sitting in the lecture and MG was talking about Blake’s poetry, and was talking about little sections of it, and I realised that Phillip Pullman uses some of Blake’s poetry in his novel ‘His Dark Materials III - The Amber Spyglass’, he actually quotes them before the chapter starts, not just only Blake, but Milton, Emily Dickons and a few others, I just found this really interesting and wanted to share it with you, cause really when we think about it… Blake’s poetry is everywhere!
