Early Australian fairy tales

Wrote a brilliant methodology chapter, left it to ferment in the laptop for a week while I was: juggling blocked toilets (it's a recurring theme isn't it?); mum in hospital; forgetting to tell my longtime friend and research assistant Susan the alarm code for the house (Oops - that woke up the street!), and then re-read it. That voice in my head was grumpy!  and said if this is your contribution to scholarly debate you need to: - a void repetitive material (I know 'tell-a-story, tell-it again and then tell-it-again is the mantra for persuasive writing but ...) - tame runaway notes ( I know enough about Stephen Greenblatt to tell the examiners what he eats for breakfast but do they care?) - quote judiciously ( I love a good quote - see previous post) - limit  jargon  (is 'morphing' jargon?) Methodology due Tuesday so I need to stop writing blog posts BUT maybe I need a coffee first. I felt better when I read  Tanya Golash-Boza 's blog  and she labe

My study now shared with the 'Train Set' - not in view! 'Already I can see you, shapeless as you are now, embodied in my dreams as the finest of all my works.'  Olga Ernst (The Magic Shadow Show, p.18) Pam and Marnee suggested the exploring the idea of beginning chapters with quotes from Ernst's works that express precisely the chapter focus or lead into the argument. Quotes are useful to because another's language may be so succinct that by comparison, mine may be ineffective. These are my fav quotes about research: The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking. Christopher Morley  (I am thinking... re-thinking...re-re-thinking...and thinking some more). I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill health or personal tragedy; she answered: “It was the footnotes”. Joanna Russ  ( I think my hair is greyer despite minimal footnotes. However no one will know - hair dye is a wonderf

Good learners don't always learn fast. The ability to hang out in the fog, to tolerate confusion, to dare to wait in a state of incomprehension while the glimmerings of an idea take their time to form is another vital aspect of resilience and thus of learning power: slow is often smart. Claxton (1999) What a relief to have completed the Abstract and the Introduction to tweaking stage... and have Pam and Marnee applaud. It seems to have taken an age (well, two years) to get the structure and my voice right. After four weeks of intensive holiday writing and stuck-to-the-desk-Sundays it feel like I'm suddenly coming out of that fog and the ideas that seemed formless for so long now just need a 'cut and polish' to become another chapter. Now for Methodology!

One of my favourite photos Heather, I miss your love of good books and British film-making, your appreciation of my tea-making and painting prowess; your willingness to read everything I wrote; your adoration of my children and their partners;  your ability to hold up plasterboard with a broom while every-one else wilts; your ice-cream Christmas pudding, pavlova and zucchini soup but not the meatloaf. Most of all I miss your quiet wisdom. XXX

How many times can you write argued... suggested...discussed in 100000 words without seeming boringly repetitive?  Having a list of verbs in alphabetical order has meant I can browse quickly when stumped and either find the 'right' verb or a different thoughtline might be suggested. I wish I'd done it sooner and of course, surfing a bit I came across a couple of useful websites.  Here's a ready-made list .   Ron Dorn has some good tips on writing papers and a couple of useful tables of a ctive verbs that describe work and  phenomena.

Wandering through the net, look for a break from the Methodology Chapter, I came across Kel's 'faction' story published on a Swinburne Uni website. Weaving the facts about an incident during WW2 that her grandfather had talked about, she wrote a 'maybe' story. Bill died when Kellie was about 4 so she pieced together this article from newspaper articles, responses to advertisements and talking to returned soldiers.  The story is dedicated to all the grandchildren who didn't get the chance to get know their grandfather.   So proud of you Kel.    Night over Sumatra  http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/journal/documents/K_Floyd.pdf Article: Advertiser (SA)13th August 1945, p.5

I have been asked why I bother to spend my time on one writer who no one knows and has only written three books. Others have been forthrightly incredulous that a University would be remotely interested in supporting ‘my whim’ when the world has so many other pressing problems.   Children’s literature has become the poor cousin in the school curriculum as librarians have disappeared, rapidly replaced by part-time library technicians who cost less. Parents are encouraged to buy through school catalogues delivered by astute publishers to make book buying easy. I question the quality. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the new Australian Curriculum (AC) may offer a renewed opportunity for literature to be re-established as important. Literature in the AC has its own strand !  Perhaps it's not surprising that on discovering Olga Ernst’s fairytales that I should be drawn to a writer, who conjured a world for her child readers set in familiar (to me) bush and city locales peopled with ad

Fairytales are a wellspring which one often passes by without noticing but which, when one has once discovered it, gushes uninterruptedly and offers its, clear, good-tasting water to everyone who is thirsty and wants to drink of it.             Hans Dieckmann,1985 Fairytales are fascinating. Bettelheim (1985:v) writes a foreword in Diekmann's book: Twice Told Tales impressing on the reader that when children's fantasies are based on fairytales, complete with their dangerous consequences (such as being eaten alive, roasted in an oven, abandoned by parents... need I continue?), they serve an important purpose in helping deal with childhood anxieties. Hans Dieckmann, a psychologist, explores his use of fairytales in patient - therapy, as a source of structure in the process of emotional development. Obviously, to work with an individual, unravel their history and interpret fairytale motifs that reoccur is a time-consuming process taking hundreds of hours of therapy. However,

One of the best parts of a PhD is the side tracks along the journey. I would probably finish faster but not enjoy the stroll, or learn, as much. H.C.E. Morant is one such divergence. Whirlaway  was shown to me on Saturday, when I met with interested relatives, passed on after originally being given to Helen by her mother Olga Ernst.  An Australian girl (aptly named Helen) and her koala bear companion travel back in time to learn about Paleontology. Teaching + fantasy + timetravel. Enough to delight any child! http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11067828 Sadly, most of its  print run was destroyed during the "blitz"in the London warehouse where it was stored. This prevented it becoming the success story it was expected to be. Hutchinson declined to reprint it and the intended sequel  an exploration of the planets for children  which had been written already by Morant was never published. With her keen interest in astronomy the next book would have appealed to Ern

Sometimes research is peeling the layers to find the essence of a person... or a thesis.  In 3 days I had written what I thought were perfect paragraphs u sing the mantra* ' knowledge claim – reason – warrant – evidence – implications' .     from a Thesis Whisperer post. U nfortunately, despite the length of time for serious writing with no coffee breaks (Vanilla Pod cafe closed) - I'd only managed three! (It could be argued that 3 perfect paragraphs are better than 30 mediocre ones but I'd like to finish this thesis.) I discovered  Scrivener . The Thesis Whisperer  confessed falling in love in 5 minutes and I was sceptical. Any-one can fall in love with an iPad in 1.5 seconds but not a software program! I was wrong... 3 days later I have restructured my thesis outline.  Back to writing!

Looking forward to having four weeks to write and reflect, plan the Brighton Historical Society Display for May and hope to have a paper accepted at University Kassel in December.

Eine australische Kinderbuchautorin deutscher Abstammung Olga Dorothea Ernst, eine frühe australische Kinderbuchautorin, war von der reichen deutschen Kultur ihrer Kindheit geprägt. Deutsche Einwanderer, die ab den 1850er Jahren in Melbourne ankamen, brachten einen hohen Grad technischer Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten mit und leisteten damit ihren Beitrag zum kulturellen Reichtum der Kolonie Victoria. Als Forscher, Künstler, Autoren, Dichter and Wissenschaftler schufen sie die Grundlagen für viele Melbourner Institutionen, als da sind die Sternwarte, der Botanische Garten, der Zoologische Garten und die Königliche Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft von Victoria. In dieser Atmosphäre wuchs Olga Ernst auf. Olga fühlte sich inspiriert, ein australisches Märchenland zu schaffen und schrieb 1904 als Sechzehnjährige das Buch ‘Fairytales from the land of the Wattle’ [‘Märchen aus dem Land der Akazien’]. Sie übernahm sehr geschickt viele der althergebrachten Feengestalten aus den Erzählungen der G

It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales. [Ger., Nicht die Kinder bloss speist man mit Marchen ab.] - Ephraim Gotthold Lessing , Nathan der Weise  (III, 6)  It has taken me 30 minutes to trawl through various literal translations to understand the meaning of this quote. It seems to be most commonly used to reinforce a subtext of childlike naviety in certain circumstances but I am appropriating it in this instance to mean that adults may enjoy fairytales.  Found at the beginning of Bottighemiers book 'Fairytales and Society' I had the jist of what it meant... but to be accurate is important. Various google translations include:  Not only one feeds the children off with fairy tales or   Not   just   the kids   fed   off   with   fairy tales which translates back to German as  Nicht gerade zogen die Kinder weg mit Märchen ein. Entrapment: new Uni library work space Reading translations is fraught with danger but I need to read the original text of fairytal