y separately published work icon In a Shaft of Sunlight selected work   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 1948... 1948 In a Shaft of Sunlight
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Notes

  • Dedication: To Noel and Carmel Power in memory of attic nights at Armidale.
  • Epigraph: 'I have seen these things in a shaft of sunlight' (Murder in the Cathedral).

Contents

* Contents derived from the London,
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
:
Sydney, New South Wales,:Shakespeare Head Press , 1948 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Ghosts, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters briefly describes the way ghosts have been depicted in literature, going back to the Ancient Greeks. He argues that modern manifestations are unimpressive, yet believes that people will continue to fear ghosts and other apparitions well into the future.
(p. 7 - 18)
The Bent Street Public Library, Sydney, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters muses on the identities, famous and otherwise, who frequent public libraries and the wide, often esoteric, range of subjects in which readers become immersed.
(p. 19 - 31)
Nursery Rhymes, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters argues that nursery rhymes and fairy tales play an important role in developing imagination and sensibility in children, which they carry into their adult lives.
(p. 32 - 40)
Smoking, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters muses on the experience and future of smoking. He discusses various types of smokers and concludes pipe-smokers those most likely to maintain freedom of mood and thought.
(p. 41 - 52)
The Search For the Spirit of Australia, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters discusses the search for the spirit of Australia.
(p. 53 - 60)
Old Letters and Signatures, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters discusses the value of old letters and imagines the personality of a man who previously owned one of his books, deduced from his handwriting and the notes he made on the text.
(p. 61 - 79)
Sydney Domain, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters suggests that the Sydney Domain on a Sunday afternoon is a combination of the Roman Forum and Circus, encompassing both political speakers of the Forum and the 'queer, non-political speakers' of the Circus, represented in modern times by the 'purveyors of fads, nostrums, and weird religions'. Letters describes his own experiences as a speaker in both Hyde Park in London and the Domain and suggests that, whatever Australia's future, the Domain will endure.
(p. 80 - 99)
The Jindyworobak Theory, F. J. H. Letters , single work criticism
Letters presents the reasons why he has difficulties with the Jindyworobak theory, which argues that the only true culture of Australia is that of the Aborigines.
(p. 100-106)
Houses I Have Lived In, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay autobiography
Letters writes about the experience of returning to houses where one used to live and their power to revive the past. In particular, he describes a visit to his old home in South Brisbane.
(p. 107 - 117)
Wine in Antiquity, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters discusses the history and virtues of wine.
(p. 118 - 134)
Waverley, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters writes about the attractions of the Sydney suburb of Waverley and regrets that it is not more celebrated.
(p. 135 - 154)
Languages, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters sets out the challenges confronting anyone wishing to properly learn a foreign language. He disputes the claims made for Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti (1774 - 1849), who was reputed to speak thirty-eight languages perfectly, including fifty dialects of these languages, as well as speaking another thirty imperfectly.
(p. 155 - 174)
Posterity, F. J. H. Letters , single work essay
Letters ponders the way successive generations consider themselves and their way of doing things superior to those who have gone before. He discusses Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1887) and condemns the utopia it presents as being 'as intellectually parasitical as it is pharisaical', and suggests that as future generations will sneer at previous generations anyway, we may as well provide them with plenty to abuse us with instead of worrying what they will think of us.
(p. 175 - 188)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 21 Feb 2012 09:34:36
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