"Hail, Hail, Australia!": Carnival of the Criminal Minds XIX
Some call Australia the Land Down Under, but it's really the Land of Crime Fiction Databases and Proud Crime Fiction Fans.You can see it a bit of both as Damien Gay's Crime Down Under hosts the 19th installment of the Carnival of the Criminal Minds. Damien links to those two wide-ranging resources: his own Australian Crime Fiction Database and to Australasian Crime.
He also links to and discusses a number of Australian authors' Web sites, and he offers a more ringing statement of mission than do most carnival hosts:
"Now, when you get a whiff of all of the mouth-watering reading sitting in front of you there grows a burning desire to track down those books and read them all. And then, when you’ve read those books and you know that those authors are largely unknown, there’s another urge to let everyone in on the rewarding reading they may be missing out on.Once the initial gush of Aussie fervor has passed, and you're done singing "Waltzing Matilda" and gorging yourself on Vegemite, you can read about and link to all 19 carnivals at the Carnival of the Criminal Minds archive.
"So here’s my opportunity to again sing it to the world about Australia’s fine collection of authors, largely unheralded and probably unknown outside our shores."
© Peter Rozovsky 2008
Technorati tags:
Australian crime fiction
Labels: Australia, blogs, Carnival of the Criminal Minds
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 2:49 AM
15 Comments:
Please no "what do expect from a nation of convicts" gags.
Nah, I know better than that. I would guess Australia's status as a rich, literate country with a broad, educated middle class that has the leisure to contemplate itself through crime fiction is more relevant than is some Irish guy who put a metal trash can on his head and got shot at by cops.
esp if that crazy Paddy is played by Mick Jagger. Did you ever see that one?. . .Yikes!
I have not, but I thought of it when I posted my comment. But I did come upon an exhibition of Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly paintings a few years ago. Nolan gives the scenes an edge that is cartoonish and creepy at the same time, the sort of thing that would make you want to whistle on the way to the gallows.
Since "Waltzing Matilda" is one of the best anti-war songs of all time, in my mind it counterbalances the very concept of Vegemite. A wash, I'll call it.
I will regard my first taste of Vegemite as a taste of the experience the world has to offer.
And I'm guessing you mean "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," indeed an affecting anti-war song, to judge by its lyrics.
Yeah, I do. I inadvertently shortened the title .
Thanks for calling my attention to the song. I had heard of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," but I have never heard it, and I did not know its lyrics. It's quite a collection of lyrics. The song hits hard, even on the little computer screen.
Interesting that Banjo Patterson's Waltzing Matilda celebrates a swagman/outlaw and that Australia's most famous artist,Sidney Nolan, is known primarily for his paintings about a criminal/bandit/folk hero.
My daughter goes to Saint Kilda Primary school which is Sidney Nolan's alma mater and his memory there is still celebrated.
Linkmeister, didn't Bob Kerrey used to bring crowds to their feet with tears in their eyes a few years ago by singing "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"?
Adrian, what do you expect from a -- Oh, never mind.
The jolly swagman is a bit of a heroic loser, too. He drowns himself to avoid being taken by what appear to a landowner's private troops, and forces at the disposal of landowners are generally not the gentlest of souls. But for stealing a sheep? And not even a shoot-out?
I know lots has been written about Ned Kelly. It might be nice to read some of what art historians call reception history to figure out why he looms so large in the country's consciousness. At least, he seems to do so from this outsider's vantage point.
I wonder if the drifter who shows at the beginning of Peter Temple's The Broken Shore is meant to evoke Banjo Patterson's jolly swagman.
Peter, if Kerrey did that, it's news to me. I've seen it linked a few times on November 11 remembrance posts in the blogosphere.
Here's Liam Clancy singing it (via YouTube).
Thanks. I'd already found a performance by Liam Clancy on YouTube, as well as several by other singers.
I am almost sure I recall a report of Kerrey singing the song. It would make sense, since he lost a leg in Vietnam and could likely well relate to the song's protagonist.
Yep, it even appears that one Iva Harper wrote a book called Waltzing Matilda: The Life and Times of Nebraska Senator Robert Kerrey.
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