Shirley Hazzard - A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas - 2022 - 576 pages

 

Shirley Hazzard - A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas - 2022 - 576 pages 

Shirley Hazzard

The Evening of The Holiday - 1966

The Bay of Noon - 1970

The Transit of Venus - 1989 (considered her greatest work)

The Great Fire - 2003

Died: December 12, 2016, Manhattan, New York City, USA

Partner: Francis Steegmuller (1963 to his death in 1994)

Shirley Hazzard - A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas is a truly wonderful literary biography.  

Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, draws on Hazzard’s fiction—which itself drew on her lived experiences—as well as her extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks, and on memories of her surviving friends and family, to create this vibrant portrait of an exceptional woman. Born in Australia she was truly a citizen of a world now largely gone.

Beginning in her younger days in Australia then moving to Hong Kong with her parents where she began her first of numerous romances, to her middle age and marriage to the Flaubert scholar Francis Steegmuller to her old age and descent into dementia in her 80s. She was friends with numerous famous literary figures.  The Isle of Capri became the home of Hazzard and her husband.

Brigitta Oulbas goes into great detail on how Hazzard’s life experiences  influenced her writings.  She worked for The United Nations in New York City.  She published numerous articles criticizing the United Nations.

Anyone at all interested in the wonderful novels and short stories of Shirley Hazzard will love this book.

About the Author

Brigitta Olubas is a professor of English at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She published the first scholarly monograph of Shirley Hazzard’s writing and recently edited two volumes of Shirley Hazzard's work: We Need Silence to Find Out What We Think: Selected Essays and Collected Stories

Mel Ulm

“Cliffs of Fall” - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard

 

“Cliff of Falls” - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard - 1962

Included in her collection Cliffs of Falls and In The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard 

Previously this Month as part of my partcipation in The Aussie Author Reading Challenge I posted on “The Party” by Shirley Hazzard.

I have also read this Month Without an accompaning post from The Cliff of Falls and Other Stories

1. A Place in The Country
2. Vittoria
3. In One’s Own House
4. Villa Adriana

My Prior Posts on Shirley Hazzard

 The  2020 Australia Reads Challenge 

Shirley Hazzard

Born January 30, 1930 Sidney, Australia

1963 to 1994 - Married to Francis Steegmuller - A highly regarded Flaubert scholar (They met at a party hosted by Muriel Spark in New York City.)

The Transit of Venus - 1980 - her most famous book

The Great Fire - 2003 - Natiinal Book Award - Best Novel

Dies - December 12, 2016 - New York City

““We should remember that sorrow does produce flowers of its own. It is a misunderstanding always to look for joy.”  -Shirley Hazzard

“Much of the drama in Hazzard’s work arises from the bruising interactions between those who are responsive to beauty, and those who are not.”  Zoe Heller in her Preface to The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard .  

From The Paris Review - “She has written five novels (The Great Fire, 2003; The Transit of Venus, 1980; The Bay of Noon, 1970; People in Glass Houses, 1967; and The Evening of the Holiday, 1966), a collection of stories (Cliffs of Fall, 1963), a memoir (Greene on Capri, 2000), and two books of nonfiction (Countenance of Truth, 1990 and Defeat of an Ideal, 1973), all of them ablaze with technical perfection and moral poise.”.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux in Publishing (September 2020) in Publishing The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard has done a great service to lovers of very high quality Short Stories.

“Collected Stories includes both volumes of the National Book Award–winning author Shirley Hazzard’s short-story collections—Cliffs of Fall and People in Glass Houses—alongside uncollected works and two previously unpublished stories

“Including twenty-eight works of short fiction in all, Shirley Hazzard’s Collected Stories is a work of staggering breadth and talent. Taken together, Hazzard’s short stories are masterworks in telescoping focus, “at once surgical and symphonic” (The New Yorker), ranging from quotidian struggles between beauty and pragmatism to satirical sendups of international bureaucracy, from the Italian countryside to suburban Connecticut. “. From The Publisher.

I have so far read one novel by Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire plus  nine  short stories.

Here is my reaction to The Great Fire

The great fire refers, among other things, to the destruction of the traditional culture of Japan in their defeat in World War Two.  Set in 1947, mostly in Japan and Australia, the people in the novel are trying to get on with their lives now that the war is over.  Some of the men were badly wounded, all suffer mental trauma, parents struggle to understand why their son had to die.  The great fire is also, mentioned several times, a symbolic representation of the bombing of Hiroshima.

“Cliffs of Fall” is set in a Villa outside of Geneva with a magnicient view of the Jura Mountain range.   Elizabeth Tchirikoff, six weeks a widow, is staying with her friends Greta and Cyril, trying to deal with feelings she never had before. Hazzard’s prose is exquisite.

In the World depicted in Hazzard’s Short stories i have so far read we see a Love for beauty, a post war venue in which people of course have servants.  Her people read serious European literature.  There is no material misery, no food anxiety.

As  the story progresses we follow Elizabeth Tchirikoff through various stages of grief..

This line of Observation at the Geneva AirPort struck me as  pure Hazzard:

“An elegant woman walked past with a poodle on a leash.”

I still have 22 stories to go in The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard I am looking forward to reading.

Mel u

“The Party” - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard - first published in The New Yorker - 1960

 “The Party” - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard - first published in The New Yorker - 1960

Included in two collections - Cliffs of Fall and Other Stories and The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard 

My Prior Posts on Shirley Hazzard

 The  2020 Australia Reads Challenge 

Shirley Hazzard

Born January 30, 1930 Sidney, Australia

1963 to 1994 - Married to Francis Steegmuller - A highly regarded Flaubert scholar (They met at a party hosted by Muriel Spark in New York City.)

The Transit of Venus - 1980 - her most famous book

The Great Fire - 2003 - Natiinal Book Award - Best Novel

Dies - December 12, 2016 - New York City

““We should remember that sorrow does produce flowers of its own. It is a misunderstanding always to look for joy.”  -Shirley Hazzard

“Much of the drama in Hazzard’s work arises from the bruising interactions between those who are responsive to beauty, and those who are not.”  Zoe Heller in her Preface to The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard .  

From The Paris Review - “She has written five novels (The Great Fire, 2003; The Transit of Venus, 1980; The Bay of Noon, 1970; People in Glass Houses, 1967; and The Evening of the Holiday, 1966), a collection of stories (Cliffs of Fall, 1963), a memoir (Greene on Capri, 2000), and two books of nonfiction (Countenance of Truth, 1990 and Defeat of an Ideal, 1973), all of them ablaze with technical perfection and moral poise.”.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux in Publishing (September 2020) in Publishing The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard has done a great service to lovers of very high quality Short Stories.

“Collected Stories includes both volumes of the National Book Award–winning author Shirley Hazzard’s short-story collections—Cliffs of Fall and People in Glass Houses—alongside uncollected works and two previously unpublished stories

“Including twenty-eight works of short fiction in all, Shirley Hazzard’s Collected Stories is a work of staggering breadth and talent. Taken together, Hazzard’s short stories are masterworks in telescoping focus, “at once surgical and symphonic” (The New Yorker), ranging from quotidian struggles between beauty and pragmatism to satirical sendups of international bureaucracy, from the Italian countryside to suburban Connecticut. “. From The Publisher.

I have so far read only one novel by Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire plus three short stories.

Here is my reaction to The Great Fire

The great fire refers, among other things, to the destruction of the traditional culture of Japan in their defeat in World War Two.  Set in 1947, mostly in Japan and Australia, the people in the novel are trying to get on with their lives now that the war is over.  Some of the men were badly wounded, all suffer mental trauma, parents struggle to understand why their son had to die.  The great fire is also, mentioned several times, a symbolic representation of the bombing of Hiroshima.

“The Party”, not surprisingly opens at a party.  The attendees read Browning and debate the revival of Swinburne.  One woman at the party tells the central female character, allegedly her friend 

“Minna, what a beautiful dress. How thin you are. Theodore, you never look a day older, not a single day. I expect,” she said to Minna, “that he is really very gray—with fair people it doesn’t show. He’ll get old quite suddenly and look like Somerset Maugham.  She gave Minna a sympathetic, curious look from her tilted eyes. (Minna could imagine her saying later: “I never will understand why that keeps going, not if I live to be a hundred.”) “Here’s Phil.” Evie’s husband came out of the living room, a silver jug in one hand and an ice bucket in the other. “You look like an allegorical figure”.

In reading this story one is struck by the shared culture of the party goers, I enjoyed these lines so much though you are forced to wonder who is to be taken seriously.

Minna and Theodore having been having an affair for 15 years. Hazzard takes us deeply into their relationship as each wonders why they keep it going.

I hope to participate a few more times in The 2020 Australian Literature Challenge.  I have a longer story by Shirley Hazzard in mind.  I would also like to read another work by Barbara Baynton, a writer of wonderful

stories about the lives of pioneering women living in the outback.

I also have a large collection of horror stories by Australian writers that has gone unread too long on my kindle application.

Mel u

Harold - The First Short Story of Shirley Hazzard. - A Parisian Couple on Vacation in Seina - First Published in The New Yorker in 1962

Paris in July 2020 - Hosted by Thyme for Tea

Harold - The First Short Story of Shirley Hazzard.  - A Parisian Couple on Vacation in Seina - First Published in The New Yorker in 1962

Today’s post on one of Australia’s greatest writers is in honor of the host for Paris in July 2020 Thyme for Tea and The Australian Book Bloggers enriching the event by their participation.

“Harold” is included  in Cliff of Falls and other stories and in The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard

Shirley Hazzard

Born January 30, 1930 Sidney, Australia

1963 to 1994 - Married to Francis Steegmuller - A highly regarded Flaubert scholar (They met at a party hosted by Muriel Spark in New York City.)

The Transit of Venus - 1980 - her most famous book

The Great Fire - 2003 - Natiinal Book Award - Best Novel


Dies - December 12, 2016 - New York City

From The Paris Review - “She has written five novels (The Great Fire, 2003; The Transit of Venus, 1980; The Bay of Noon, 1970; People in Glass Houses, 1967; and The Evening of the Holiday, 1966), a collection of stories (Cliffs of Fall, 1963), a memoir (Greene on Capri, 2000), and two books of nonfiction (Countenance of Truth, 1990 and Defeat of an Ideal, 1973), all of them ablaze with technical perfection and moral poise.”.

My Research indicates she and her husband spent considerable time in Paris but I did not find the exact dates. She was deeply read in French literature.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux in Publishing (September 2020) in Publishing The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard has done a great service to lovers of very high quality Short Stories.

“Collected Stories includes both volumes of the National Book Award–winning author Shirley Hazzard’s short-story collections—Cliffs of Fall and People in Glass Houses—alongside uncollected works and two previously unpublished stories

“Including twenty-eight works of short fiction in all, Shirley Hazzard’s Collected Stories is a work of staggering breadth and talent. Taken together, Hazzard’s short stories are masterworks in telescoping focus, “at once surgical and symphonic” (The New Yorker), ranging from quotidian struggles between beauty and pragmatism to satirical sendups of international bureaucracy, from the Italian countryside to suburban Connecticut. “. From The Publisher.

“Harold” was her first published Short Story.  William Maxwell was so impressed in his acceptance letter asked her to send them all future stories.

This wonderful story centers on a French family on their annual Holiday at pensione in Siena, Italy.

“Bernard Tourner was as lean and astringent as his wife, Monique, was plump and soft—a dove in her gray dress. For many years they had come from Paris to spend their summers at this pensione, and each morning they would disappear in their little ancient car for an excursion to Arezzo or Volterra, or simply into the Chianti hills, returning as children return from a trip to the seaside, refreshed and exhausted and painfully sunburned.”

Readers of Katherine Mansfield will have fond memories brought to mind by this story of a life in a pensione, watching the interactions of the residents.  Among the other guests are an English couple, there three sons, an Italian painter as well as guests of unknown background.   The guests eat their meals in common.  It seems most are repeat guests.  This year they are joined by a woman and her son, maybe 16.  The son will play an essential part in the close of the story.

Here is The French man contrasts his country versus Italy:

““You see how it is,” said Bernard, with a faint smile. “In this country everything has been done, as it were—even this landscape has been done to the point where one becomes a detail in a canvas. And they all know too much. In Italy one is almost too much at ease, too well understood ; all summer here I feel that nothing new can happen, nothing can surprise or call our capacities into question; that none of us can add anything.” “Does this mean we shan’t see you here next year?” asked Dora, laughing because Bernard had come there for so many years..... “I simply mean that in our countries one must still be prepared for a few surprises, but here all experience is repetition, and that gives one an outrageous sense of proportion. That’s why we feel so comfortable—why we find it so attractive to come here. After all, France is certainly as beautiful as this”—Bernard included the Italian peninsula in a brief gesture.”

Hazzard brings out national identies in a very subtle way.  We see how Parisian couple view Italy and England.

This is is just a perfect story.  I see why William Maxwell wanted more of her work.

Mel u

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard - 2003

Shirley Hazzard on The Reading Life

My thanks to Max u for The Amazon Gift Card that allowed me to acquire this work. 
 Winner U.S.A National Book Award for Fiction, 2003

Born 1931. Sydney, Australia

Died 2016, New York City, U.S.A 

The Great Fire is the first novel by Shirley Hazzard I have had the pleasure of experiencing.  Last month I read and posted on one of her short stories, “Cliffs of Fall”.

The great fire refers, among other things, to the destruction of the traditional culture of Japan in their defeat in World War Two.  Set in 1947, mostly in Japan and Australia, the people in the novel are trying to get on with their lives now that the war is over.  Some of the men were badly wounded, all suffer mental trauma, parents struggle to understand why their son had to die.  The great fire is also, mentioned several times, a symbolic representation of the bombing of Hiroshima.

One of the certral characters, Alfred Leith, 32, is in Japan to write about impact defeat had on Japanese society.  He is involved in a romance with a woman of 17, the daughter of an Australian Brigadier General.

The characters are all readers, my kind of people!  

The characters are quite subtly developed.  The conversations are very interesting.  The prose is old fashionedly exquiste. The sentences are marvelous.

I enjoyed this novel a lot.  I read a review that compared her style to Elizabeth Bowen, a writer I have read extensively.

”A Place in the Country”. - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard first published June 3, 1963 in The New Yorker

Shirley Hazzard on The Reading Life

Shirley Hazzard 

Born 1931 Sidney, Australia 

Notable Books

The Transit of Venus 1980

The Great Fire 2003

Died 2016, New York City

A few weeks ago I had never heard of Shirley Hazzard.  Now I am eager to read as much of her work as I can.  To me she exemplifies literary globalism.

I am starting with the stories in her collection Cliffs of Fall and other stories, 1963. Most of the stories in this book were first published in The New Yorker.  I have already posted on the title story, one of the ten stories in the collection.

The people in Hazzard’s stories read fine literature, in the English tradition.  As “A Place in the Country” opens an obviously affluent English couple are unpacking their books as they settle into their new country home.  I felt truth in this story as I listened in on their conversation about how the books should be organised on the shelves.

““TRY to keep the poetry separate,” said May. “The rest can be arranged later.” She made her way around the boxes of books and china to the doorway, and called up the stairs. “Clem! When you’re finished up there, you could help Nettie with the books.” She had a powerful, almost insistent voice and she evidently assumed that her husband heard her, for she came back into the living room without waiting for his reply and knelt down on the rug beside Nettie. “I can make a start on the china.”  “Is Shakespeare poetry?” asked Nettie, peering into a box. “No, he belongs with the set of Elizabethan dramatists —the old leather ones”

Anyone into a Reading Life will appreciate the importance of organizing your books upon moving into a new place.

The wife will stay in the country place for six months, with her children.  The husband will come from London when he can.  She needs the company of the books.  Their children will stay with her.  A couple they know is coming to visit.  The husband is having an affair with the wife.

Hazzard does a marvellous job with the characters and their relationships.  We see deeply how each person feels about the other and how the man and woman each view the ending of their affair.  It is all very civilised and understated.  

I also just read another of her stories, “The Party”.  How can one not Love a writer who makes a line like this work:

“never look a day older, not a single day. I expect,” she said to Minna, “that he is really very gray—with fair people it doesn’t show. He’ll get old quite suddenly and look like Somerset Maugham.”

Mel u

“Cliffs of Fall” - A Short Story by Shirley Hazzard - 1961

My Q and A Session with Catherine McNamara

Shirley Hazzard 

Born 1931 Sidney, Australia 

Notable Books

The Transit of Venus

The Great Fire

Died 2016, New York City

I begin my initial post on a work by Shirley Hazzard with an offer of thanks to Catherine McNamara, author of two highly regarded short story collections, Pelt and other Stories and The Cartography of Others for suggesting I read Shirley Hazzard.  I decided to begin with the title story of her collection Cliffs of Fall.  

My post today will be brief, I have number of works I hope to complete this month and I’m planning lots more posts in honour of Shirley Hazzard.

“Cliff of Fall” is set in the beautiful Swiss alps.  Three people are on holiday together, Cyril, his wife Greta and their good friend, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth’s husband has not long ago died in a plane crash. The purpose of the Holiday is to help Elizabeth cope with this death, only a few months after they were married.  Hazzard marvellously brings into play the complex emotions involved.  We see Elizabeth struggling with guilt as she tries to get on with her life.

Hazzard makes wonderful use of the brilliant background of the Alps.  We don’t learn a great deal about the history of the characters but they have real verisimilitude, obviously cultured sensitive individuals.

There are ten more stories in the collection, I’m planning to read all of them.

Mel u