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A Difficult Young Man
''A Difficult Young Man'' (1955) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the second in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises ''The Cardboard Crown'', ''A Difficult Young Man'', ''Outbreak of Love'' and ''When Blackbirds Sing'') and it won the ALS Gold Medal in 1957. Plot summary The novel continues the story of the Langtons, an Anglo-Australian family based in Melbourne, who have never truly come to terms with their place in Australian society. Like the first novel in the series, this book is narrated by Guy Langton and concerns the younger son Dominic, a man who ideals and actions are considered both eccentric and unacceptable to the Melbourne society of the time. Reviews Gordon Stewart in ''The Argus'' noted that the author was now in fine company. "Few authors can cope successfully with the family saga type of sage. Miles Franklin and Henry Handel Richardson stand out among the Australians who have made the attempt. To their names can now be added that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Boyd
Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 – 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born into the à Beckett– Boyd family, a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia. Boyd was a novelist, memoirist and poet who spent most of his life after World War I in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One. Boyd's siblings included the potter Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (1916-2009), painter Arthur Boyd (1920–1999), sculptor G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cresset Press
The Cresset Press was a publishing company in London, England, active as an independent press from 1927 for 40 years, and initially specializing in "expensively illustrated limited editions of classical works, like Milton's '' Paradise Lost''" going on to produce well-designed trade editions of literary and political works. Among the leading illustrators commissioned by Cresset were Blair Hughes-Stanton and Gertrude Hermes — ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1928), '' The Apocrypha'' (1929), and D. H. Lawrence's '' Birds, Beasts and Flowers'' (1930). Cresset subsequently became part of the Barrie Group of publishers, and later an imprint of the Ebury Press within the Random House Group. History Operating from offices at 11 Fitzroy Square, the Cresset Press was founded in 1927 by Dennis Cohen (1891–1970), whose obituary in ''The Times'' details some of the company's first titles: Bacon’s ''Essays'', in folio, printed at the Shakespeare Head, was followed by a number of hands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardback
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occasionally leather). It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks. Following the ISBN sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk. Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper, and they are much more durable than paperbacks, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers. Hardcover books are marginally more costly to manufacture. Hardcovers are frequently protected by artistic dust jackets, but a "jacketless" alternative has increased in popularity: these "paper-over-board" or "jacketless" hardcover bindings forgo the dust jacket in favor of printing the cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic. Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century in such forms as pamphlets, yellow-backs, yellowbacks, dime novels, and airport novels. Modern paperbacks can be differentiated from one another by size. In the United States, there are "mass-market paperbacks" and larger, more durable "trade paperbacks". In the United Kingdom, there are A-format, B-format, and the largest C-format sizes. Paperback editions of books are issued when a publisher decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Lower-quality paper, glued (rather than stapled or sewn) bindings, and the lack of a hard cover may contribute to the lower cost of paperbacks. Paperb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cardboard Crown
''The Cardboard Crown'' (1952) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the first in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises ''The Cardboard Crown'', ''A Difficult Young Man'', ''Outbreak of Love (novel), Outbreak of Love'' and ''When Blackbirds Sing''). Plot summary The novel follows the story of Alice Langton, as told by her grandson Guy de Teba Langton, who pieces the story together from her diaries and family gossip. Alice is trapped in a life where her happiness is a secondary consideration among the rest of the family, who make continual demands on her money. Alice moves constantly between her homes in Australia and Europe, always longing for the home she does not inhabit. Reviews Geoffrey Hutton in ''The Argus'' noted that the author was writing a family saga of wealth and influence in Melbourne with a difference. "The prod-nosed social investigators may find some interesting sidelights here on the gilded life of the governing class in the 70's or the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outbreak Of Love (novel)
''Outbreak of Love'' (1957) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the third in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises ''The Cardboard Crown'', '' A Difficult Young Man'', ''Outbreak of Love'' and ''When Blackbirds Sing''). Story outline The novel is concerned with the marriage of Diana and Wolfie von Flugel in the years leading up to World War I. After Diana damages a tooth on a hard piece of toast she travels to Melbourne to have it repaired. There, on Collins Street, she meets Russell Lockwood, a man from her childhood who has long admired her. Critical reception In her essay "Much Else in Boyd : The Relationship between Martin Boyd's Nonfiction Work and his Later Novels" in ''Southerly'' magazine in 1978, Susan McKernan notes that Boyd's novels "have been regarded as shrewd social commentaries, or witty novelettes rather than novels of argument. They appear to concentrate on the niceties and absurdities of social exchange rather than the more basic an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
When Blackbirds Sing
''When Blackbirds Sing'' (1962) is the last novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is also the last in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises ''The Cardboard Crown'', '' A Difficult Young Man'', ''Outbreak of Love'' and ''When Blackbirds Sing''). Plot summary During World War I Dominic Langton leaves his wife and child behind in Australia and travels to England to enlist in the army. While there he comes to know his English family roots for the first time and is initially seduced by the show of class and privilege. But his experiences in the war gradually change his attitudes, and he finally returns to Australia a very changed man. Reviews Maurice Dunlevy, in a re-examination of the whole tetralogy after it had been re-issued in 1971 by Lansdowne Press, wrote: "Throughout his career Boyd had been wrestling with the conflict between writing a family saga in a form that might be called a schematic fable — the Jamesian novel of total relevance. The sweep required ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ALS Gold Medal
The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged. Award winners 2020s * 2022: Andy Jackson, ''Human Looking'' * 2021: Nardi Simpson – ''Song of the Crocodile'' *2020: Charmaine Papertalk Green — ''Nganajungu Yagu'' 2010s * 2019: Pam Brown — ''click here for what we do'' * 2018: Shastra Deo – ''The Agonist'' * 2017: Zoe Morrison – ''Music and Freedom'' * 2016: Brenda Niall – ''Mannix'' * 2015: Jennifer Maiden – ''Drones and Phantoms'' * 2014: Alexis Wright – ''The Swan Book'' * 2013: Michelle de Kretser – ''Questions of Travel'' * 2012: Gillian Mears – ''Foal's Bread'' * 2011: Kim Scott – '' That Deadman Dance'' * 2010: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merric Boyd
William Merric Boyd, known more as Merric Boyd (24 June 1888 – 9 September 1959), was an Australian artist, active as a ceramicist, sculptor, and extensive chronicling of his family and environs in pencil drawing. He held the fine mythic distinction of being the father of Australian studio pottery. The Boyd family of many generations includes painters, sculptors, architects and other arts professionals, commencing with Boyd's parents Arthur Merric Boyd and Emma Minnie a'Beckett Boyd. Boyd's brothers were Penleigh, a landscape artist, and Martin, a writer. His sister Helen Read, a navy wife, enjoyed taking to painting late in life. He and his wife, Doris, raised noted Australian artists, painters Arthur and David, and sculptor Guy.Their eldest daughter Lucy's ceramic painting benefited greatly from her unique inheritance. Subsequent generations of Boyds are or have enjoyed their rightful approaches in the arts perceived around them. Background The second of five children o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1955 Australian Novels
Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18–January 20, 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan). * January 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), armed with nuclear weapons. * January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England. * January 25 – The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. * January 28 – The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Taiwan, Formosa from the People's Republic of China. February * February ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novels By Martin Boyd
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
