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y separately published work icon A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook selected work   autobiography   short story   poetry   diary  
Issue Details: First known date: 1990... 1990 A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook
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Notes

  • Dedication: To the memory of Platon Talihmanidis 1939-1988
  • Epigraph: 'Conscience incurable convinces me I am not writing my life; life never assures which part of ourself is life.' Robert Lowell
  • The poems and short stories within this diary have been indexed individually.

Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:University of Queensland Press , 1990 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Pairs of Dark Swallowsi"Pairs of dark swallows", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 6-7)
The Smell of Applesi"The smell of apples", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 21)
Epitaphiosi"Boiling eggs in red-dyed water", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 22-23)
Here and There are Seedsi"Here and there are seeds,", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 24-25)
Two Seated Buddhasi"Two seated Buddhas", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 30)
Midnight a High Mooni"Midnight, a high moon,", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 34)
At the Step a Birdi"At the step a bird", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 36)
Untitledi"A temple of wood", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 52-53)
A Drop of Water, Beverley Farmer , single work short story (p. 58-77)
Waking in This Roomi"Waking in this room", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 81)
Among Pigeons, Beverley Farmer , single work short story (p. 82-91)
Crossing to Zakynthosi"At the roaring quay, with the ferry tied", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 95)
Vase with Red Fishes Interior with Goldfish, Beverley Farmer , single work short story (p. 100-113)
Figsi"A bubble of milk", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 114)
A Mothi"The table lamp is already on, a dome", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 121-122)
Headland, Tasmaniai"Armchairs turned to the view-", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 122)
Black Genoa, Beverley Farmer , single work short story (p. 129-139)
In Bare Apple Boughsi"In bare apple boughs", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 140)
Bells from Ladakhi"You hold two small hats of pale gold", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 194)
Untitledi"She, thinking of him, remembers", Beverley Farmer , single work poetry (p. 244)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

A Year of Solitude Sarah Holland-Batt , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 January 2021; (p. 18)
Beverley Farmer 1941-2018 Archetypes and Fluency in This Water : Five Tales Lyn Jacobs , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 3 no. 18 2018;

'It is not unusual to encounter feminist re-readings of traditional stories, in the manner of speaking back via parodic challenges to gender stereotypes, but it is rare to find a writer re-dressing the skeletal bones of narrative to offer nuanced and sensual texts which subvert but also re-animate tales. And that is what is achieved in Beverley Farmer’s This Water:Five Tales (2017). After the contemplative essays of The Bone House (2005), with their stark black and white imagery and emphasis on dormancy and stone, Farmer returns to fiction where inherited stories are re-shaped to challenge the confines of precedent. This new publication includes a first-person story that illustrates the formative effects of word and image, reinterpretations of two Celtic tales, one Greek legend and a macabre European fairy-tale. Each story is discrete but they all reconsider masculist perceptions of women through the ages. This paper considers the re-framing and interrogation of the gendered designs of oral and folkloric traditions in This Water: Five Tales, focussing on ‘water’as a unifying theme and the fluency of Farmer’s poetic prose.'  (Publication abstract)

To See : A Literary Ecological Point of View (Some Australian Examples of Ecocritical Creative Writing, With Particular Emphasis on the Prose Poem) Moya Costello , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 20 2013;

‘An ecologically-informed point of view’, says Wendy Wheeler (2006: 91), is one 'that sees all life, including culture, as naturally co-evolved and interdependent’. We can be unconscious of the fact that we are ‘embodied creatures’ for whom ‘the natural world … is the ground-state’ (Wheeler 2006: 91). Constantly distracted by the mass of human-engineered activity, we have lost, Clive Hamilton says, our imagination, and the imagery to inspire an appropriate responsiveness (2005: 191). Beverley Farmer’s innovative ecocritical writing in ‘Mouths of gold’ (2005), with its nonlinear, associative structure and hybrid nature enfolding the prose poem, reveals her exemplary practice of seeing what is. Like the prose poem, the essay without a straightforward, linear structure requires focus and time to make your way through it and to understand what it is offering. John Tomlinson has noted that time itself is neither linear-progressive nor cyclic; it has accidents and surprises in store and is constituted by profound rifts and forks (2007). These rifts in time make us aware of the contingency of our existence. Survival and successful adaptation in environments that are in crisis in the early twenty-first century will require a constant reflexive re-balancing, an experimental approach, a strategy of improvisation. ' (Author's abstract)

Beverley Farmer's Embrace of the Mirror Janice Shaw , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 151-159)
Janice Shaw examines Beverley Farmer's A Body of Water. Shaw states that the Farmer's term 'embrace of the mirror' is a motif that 'characterises Farmer's writing in terms of the relationships she presents. The gender issues revealed through these relationships are characterised by feelings of coldness, otherness, and love, being a reflection of the self which only serves to emphasise its 'selfish nature...' (p. 151)
Story and the Effacement of Story : Beverley Farmer's The Bone House Chester Eagle , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Well in the Shadow : A Writer's Journey through Australian Literature 2010; (p. 273-292)
[Review] A Body of Water John Nieuwenhuizen , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , December-January (1989-1990) vol. 69 no. 1000 1989; (p. 26)

— Review of A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook Beverley Farmer , 1990 selected work autobiography short story poetry diary
Peering into a Pool of Self-Scrutiny Rosemary Sorensen , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 24 February 1990; (p. 8)

— Review of A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook Beverley Farmer , 1990 selected work autobiography short story poetry diary
Strong and Sensuous Strokes of the Pen Marian Favel Clair Eldridge , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 March 1990; (p. B4)

— Review of A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook Beverley Farmer , 1990 selected work autobiography short story poetry diary
Rich Landscapes of the Mind Katharine England , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 February 1990; (p. 14)

— Review of A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook Beverley Farmer , 1990 selected work autobiography short story poetry diary ; Longhand : A Writer's Notebook Murray Bail , 1989 single work autobiography novel
Spirit's Daring Kate Veitch , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10 February 1990; (p. 75)

— Review of A Body of Water : A Year's Notebook Beverley Farmer , 1990 selected work autobiography short story poetry diary ; Spider Cup Marion Halligan , 1990 single work novel
Literary Cat Leaves a Trail This Time Philippa Hawker , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Herald , 11 February 1990; (p. 32)
Are there Really Angels in Carlton? Australian Literature and Theology Noel Rowe , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Ethical Investigations : Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics 2008; (p. 30-59)
Story and the Effacement of Story : Beverley Farmer's The Bone House Chester Eagle , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Well in the Shadow : A Writer's Journey through Australian Literature 2010; (p. 273-292)
Beverley Farmer's Embrace of the Mirror Janice Shaw , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 151-159)
Janice Shaw examines Beverley Farmer's A Body of Water. Shaw states that the Farmer's term 'embrace of the mirror' is a motif that 'characterises Farmer's writing in terms of the relationships she presents. The gender issues revealed through these relationships are characterised by feelings of coldness, otherness, and love, being a reflection of the self which only serves to emphasise its 'selfish nature...' (p. 151)
Looking Back : Autumn Reading at Knopwoods on 21 March - Beverley Farmer, Stephanie Dowrick, Peta Murray Denise Brown , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Tasmanian Writers Union Newsletter , June vol. 10 no. 4 1990; (p. 5-6)
Last amended 25 Jun 2021 09:47:32
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