The Magic of Meanjin

Cover art. Meanjin. Volume 19, number 3, 1960. Meanjin, Carlton, Vic.
Cover art. Meanjin. Volume 19, number 3, 1960. Meanjin, Carlton, Vic. Reproduced with permission from the estate of Roger Kemp

Writers nurture multiple relationships throughout their career and perhaps there’s none more important than the one with their publisher.  The collections held at UMA illustrate the process of writing and publication, from the moment an idea is born to the maturation of a finished piece of writing. This relationship between writer and publisher is most evident in the archive of one of Australia’s most influential literary journals, Meanjin.

The correspondence files contained within founding editor Clement Byrne Christesen’s papers are a thrilling find for the literary fan and illuminate the working lives and relationships of editor, publisher and writer. Key figures in Australian literature such as AD Hope, Patrick White, Marjorie Barnard, and Peter Carey are highlights of this vast collection. The correspondence with poets, essayists, playwrights, novelists and critics provide an intimate insight into the myriad of relationships editor CB Christesen developed and sustained over three decades, amongst a range of financial, political and cultural challenges.

In one of his many letters to literary critic Nettie Palmer, Christesen almost apologetically explains “An editor seems to be asking all the time – or suggesting. If he merely suggests, invariably nothing is done. He must then follow it up, ask outright or demand…I’m not much good at that, making demands on people’s goodwill, on their time and energy.”[1] Christesen was clearly a talented editor; he published many celebrated figures in Australian literature and introduced Australians to international writing, whilst maintaining a journal of the highest quality with minimum funding. Although Christesen retired from editorship in 1974, Meanjin has successfully continued as one of Australia’s foremost literary voices.

[1] Letter to from C B Christesen to Nettie Palmer, c. November 1945, Box 257, Meanjin Editorial Records of C B Christesen 2005.004

Online finding aid Meanjin – Editorial records of CB Christesen

More from Meanjin can be discovered online http://meanjin.com.au/

A State of Many Stories

The Writers' State: a Literary Map of Victoria
The Writers’ State: A Literary Map of Victoria
Designed by Ron Brooks and compiled by members of ASAL from the forthcoming Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to Australia and the Victoria 150 Literature Committee, 1981.
University of Melbourne Archives, McPhee Gribble collection 1999.0048 Box 402

Victoria’s rich literary history is revealed on The Writers’ State: A Literary Map of Victoria, with many of the big names and big stories of Australian Literature inspired by or set in the country towns of Victoria and the city of Melbourne.  This beautiful map is also a comprehensive reflection of UMA’s own collections.

The writers map places many of the authors held within the UMA collection firmly in Australia’s literary canon. Their evocative styles imbue a sense of time and place; Margaret Kiddle arouses the spirits of the first pastoralists in Victoria’s Western Districts in her book Men of Yesterday; Ray Ericksen entices you to connect with the beach and bush of Cape Otway in Cape Solitary. John Morrison and Helen Garner’s portrayals of inner Melbourne life reflect the gritty but no less poignant side of Victoria’s capital city.

We recently collaborated with Currency Press for their educational App about Ray Lawler’s seminal play about Melbourne life in the 1950s, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Within the dramatically large Melbourne Theatre Company collection we unearthed a cache of set designs, production notes, photographs, posters and ephemera from the 1955 premiere, up until the 1981 production.

And of course, where would Australian literature be without CB Christensen and Meanjin? Our collection of his editorship of the journal equates the significance in the literary world of Victoria, and Australia.

The Writers’ State: A Literary Map of Victoria is a telling portrait of the literary gold that has been inspired by Victoria, its landscape and its people. It not only reveals some of the treasures of our publishing and literary collections but serves as a reminder to re-discover the writers and works who may have been left by the roadside.

Hilary McPhee transferred the vast McPhee Gribble collection in 1999. With over 400 boxes of material, the collection contains author files, manuscripts, minutes, administrative and financial files, correspondence with editors, publishers and agents, as well as documents pertaining to the sale to Penguin.

The Writers' State: A Literary Map of Victoria Designed by Ron Brooks and compiled by members of ASAL from the forthcoming Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to Australia and the Victoria 150 Literature Committee, 1981.
The Writers’ State: A Literary Map of Victoria
Designed by Ron Brooks and compiled by members of ASAL from the forthcoming Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to Australia and the Victoria 150 Literature Committee, 1981.

The Loves, Rages and Jealousies of Juno

Image: Giulio Bonasone, Juno Asks Aeolus to Raise a Tempest Against the Trojan Fleet, from The Loves, Rages and Jealousies of Juno (1531-76), engraving, image (sheet trimmed to image) 13.5 x 10.4 cm, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

This exhibition, on the ground floor of the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne, displays prints about the Roman goddess Juno. Included are tales of her philandering husband, Jupiter; her forays into the Underworld; and her role in the Trojan War.

Floortalk by curator Meg Sheehan (Baillieu Library Print Collection intern)
Monday 10 December, 1.00-1.20pm.

The exhibition will be on display from 4 December 2012 to 31 January 2013.

The Moral Dissection

Image: Johannes de Frey, The anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, after Rembrandt, (1798), reg. no. 1959.4361, etching, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

Johannes de Frey’s print is after Rembrandt’s painting The anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp which he created in 1632 for the Guild of Surgeons in Amsterdam. There is some thought that the book seen in the lower right of the image is Andreas Vesalius’ De Humani Corpois Fabrica (The fabric of the human body) of 1543. Vesalius (1514-1564) is regarded as the founder of anatomy. The surgeons in the image are fascinated by the book rather than the cadaver. In Vesalius and Rembrandt’s time both public and private dissections were performed. The cadavers were criminals or vulnerable members of society such as paupers. Public dissection was intended to be a dreadful punishment following the execution of criminals, and also a deterrent to any prospective felons. Dissection prevented a person from a consecrated burial and their body parts could not be reassembled in the afterlife. The cadaver in the image is Aris Kindt (Adriaen Adriaenszoon) who was executed for stealing a coat. So the lesson presented is both a scientific and a moral one.

War Stories

Image: Ray Jones, England, 1919, Ray Jones collection, 1981.0081, NN/2520, University of Melbourne Archives

The University of Melbourne Archive’s records relating to World War I are extensive. The official University records document the University’s involvement in the war, through research, mobilisations and public relations. Other collections of significance include that of Sir Percival Edgar Dean, (one of) Billy Hughes’ private secretary from November 1916, and the war diaries of John Neville Fraser, the father of Malcolm Fraser. The large collection of union papers document the campaign against conscription in Australia.

In relation to the experience of Australian soldiers in France, UMA holds an interesting range of documents. They include the diaries and correspondence of University students’ and staff, some of whom did not return. UMA also holds photographs, medals, publications and other memorabilia gathered by Australian soldiers during the war.

The UMA will shortly be launching an exciting new blog titled ‘Somewhere in France’. Using collections from the University of Melbourne Archives, French language students at the University will discuss the experiences of Australian soldiers in France during World War I – this blog is under construction and will be launched on 15 November 2012. See <http://umasomewhereinfrance.wordpress.com>

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