'The Letter. Both a thing written on paper bordering on obsolescence and a material mark—an a, b, c—now more than ever shot through by the electronic, the two-fold letter lives on. With its strange capacity to travel through time and across distances, it would seem that the essential impulse of the letter is to connect people, histories, and worlds. But as the essays in this issue of Mosaic suggest, these lines of transmission and connection are far more fraught than we would like to think.' (Editorial introduction)
Contents indexed selectively.
'This essay focuses on my reading of the Australian writer Murray Bail's archived correspondence dating from 1978 to 2001, held in the National Library of Australia. The correspondence is in a set of four mostly mixed boxes, with the exception of one box almost entirely devoted to correspondence about Bail's third novel, Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is about the seductiveness of storytelling, and it is structurally based on a range of eucalypt species, the iconic Australian gum tree. Bail's main correspondents are other writers, with the majority coming from Australian novelist and poet Rodney Hall, Australian expatriate novelist Shirley Hazzard, American poet Mark Strand, and the general reading public. Some material is restricted for several years. The correspondence of Australian writer Helen Garner, Bail's former wife, with a similarly acclaimed literary reputation, is equally restricted. I have also read some of Bail's letters in the archived correspondence of Australian journalist David Marr, Patrick White's biographer; Australian art writer Bernard Smith; Australian linguist Dymphna Clark; and Hall. The correspondence of some other relevant authors, such as the Australian Robyn Davidson, is not available in Australia.' (Introduction)
