Issue Details: First known date: 2001... 2001 A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The letters in this selection were written between 1943 and Harwood's death in 1995. Over half of the letters are to her good friend Tony Riddell; other correspondents include her biographer Alison Hoddinott and well-known figures from literary, artistic and musical circles.The letters are arranged chronologically and grouped into five time periods, each group prefaced by a brief biographical introduction.

Gwen Harwood was a prodigious letter writer who placed a high value on friendship: the letters display the "generosity of spirit, biting wit, and a superb command of language [which] characterise both her poetry and her letters to friends" (Cover). The selection offers a wealth of detail about Harwood's daily life, family and friends life as well as casting valuable light on her poetry and on literary personalities, issues and events of the period and Harwood's relationship with editors and publishers. Many of the letters written during the early 1960s give background details to the use of pseudonyms and the perpetration of literary hoaxes such as the publication of the "Eloisa to Abelard' acrostic sonnets and the poem "The Sentry", co-authored with Vincent Buckley.The letters also contain a significant number of previously unpublished occasional poems, usually satirical or parodic. Verse letters and poems included within letters have been individually indexed.

Notes

  • Dedication:

    In memoriam

    Gwen Harwood, 1920-1995

    Chasely Kratzmann, 1945-1995

Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:University of Queensland Press , 2001 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Dust to Dust Memento Homo Quia Pulvis Es [Remember O man thou art dust]i"Policeman postman watchman fireman", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 67)
Note: Included in a letter to Vivian Smith, 16.12.1958, with author's comment: I got the idea for the opening lines from one of Bill's [her husband, a linguist] infant word-lists under the heading "man".
On a Second Reading of "Goods Train"i"When I consider how I used to write", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 102-103)
"Virtue and Hope depart. God's finger traces" Eloisa to Abelardi"Solace and hope depart. God's finger traces", Walter Lehmann , single work poetry (p. 126)
[To Vincent Buckley 1961]i"Dear Vin, Your employer's not able", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 137)
[To A. D. Hope, Thursday 26.10.61]i"Reich mir die Hand, du sehrgeliebter Mensch [Give me your hand beloved man]", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 143)
[To Vincent Buckley 16.8.1962]i"Dear Vincent, I'm just a computer", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 163)
Primavera Academicai"Nearing light God became mechanical", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 164)
[To Vincent Buckley 20.8.1962]i"Dear Vin, I don't write to importune", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 165)
[To Vincent Buckley 25.9.1962]i"Jones says on textual evidence", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 167)
[To Vincent Buckley 5.10.62]i"Dear Vincent, I give you fair warning", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 168)
[To Vincent Buckley 26.12.1962]i"Dear Vincent, I've just got me volume:", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 171-172)
[To Rex Hobcroft 9.12.1963]i"Last Sunday I was having tea", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 184)
[To Chris Wallace-Crabbe 13.12.1963]i"Mrs Harwood, busy cooking", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 185-186)
[To Larry Sitsky 14.11.1964]i"Usher's residence was cracked", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 196)
A Ballade of the Stockingsi"From the bronze plates of Davey Street", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 208)
[To Norman Talbot 23.4.1972]i"Dear Norman whom I've loved for ages", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 265-267)
[To Chris Wallace-Crabbe 11.8.1972]i"Back into the womb of light", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 270)
[To A. D. Hope 20.9.1973]i"By the grace of Gough Almighty", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 284-286)
Note: Accompanied by reproduction of postcard
[To Norman Talbot 30.4.1975]i"O how elegant and shiny", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 298-299)
To Chris Wallace-Crabbei"Dear Chris, I must thank you for writing", Gwen Harwood , single work poetry (p. 418)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Gwen Harwood Cassandra Atherton , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 30-31)
Editing Gwen Harwood Alison Hoddinott , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 111 2007; (p. 29-45)
Alison Hoddinott tells of the 'experience of editing some of the prose and poetry of Gwen Harwood'. (Island)
Lives and Letters Barbara Garlick , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)

— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 Amie Livingstone Stirling , 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present Prue Torney-Parlicki , Alison Alexander , 2001 single work biography
Soundings from Down Under Nicholas Birns , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 16 no. 2 2002; (p. 192-194)
An overview of news and major publications relating to Australian literature in 2002.
Gwen Harwood: 'The Police Own the Brothels' Max Richards , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Tirra Lirra , Winter vol. 12 no. 4 2002; (p. 8-10)

— Review of A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Selected Poems : A New Edition Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work poetry
Gwen Harwood: 'The Police Own the Brothels' Max Richards , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Tirra Lirra , Winter vol. 12 no. 4 2002; (p. 8-10)

— Review of A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Selected Poems : A New Edition Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work poetry
Lives and Letters Barbara Garlick , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 171 2003; (p. 92-95)

— Review of A Certain Style : Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life Jacqueline Kent , 2001 single work biography ; A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence ; Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , 2001 anthology correspondence biography ; Memories of an Australian Childhood, 1880-1900 Amie Livingstone Stirling , 1980 single work autobiography ; A Wealth of Women : Australian Women's Lives from 1788 to the Present Prue Torney-Parlicki , Alison Alexander , 2001 single work biography
CoverNotes Lucy Sussex , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 28 October 2001; (p. 11)

— Review of A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence
An Unburiable Talent Brenda Niall , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 236 2001; (p. 10-11)

— Review of A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence
Miss en Scene Kathy Hunt , 2001-2002 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 18 December - 8 January vol. 119 no. 6306 2001-2002; (p. 110)

— Review of A Steady Storm of Correspondence : Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood : 1943-1995 Gwen Harwood , 2001 selected work correspondence
Soundings from Down Under Nicholas Birns , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 16 no. 2 2002; (p. 192-194)
An overview of news and major publications relating to Australian literature in 2002.
Editing Gwen Harwood Alison Hoddinott , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Island , Summer no. 111 2007; (p. 29-45)
Alison Hoddinott tells of the 'experience of editing some of the prose and poetry of Gwen Harwood'. (Island)
Gwen Harwood Cassandra Atherton , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 30-31)
Last amended 2 Apr 2014 09:42:17
X