PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK by Joan Lindsay
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2020
- Today I discuss Joan Lindsay’s haunting 1967 Australian gothic novel, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. Of course, it would be impossible to talk about the book without mentioning Peter Weir’s 1975 film adaptation. Please share with me your thoughts on both the book and the film in the comment section. Also, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like and subscribe! Until next time.
Source:
McCulloch, Janelle "The extraordinary story behind Picnic at Hanging Rock." The Sydney Morning Herald March 30, 2017. www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/the-...
"... everything begins, and ends, at exactly the right time and place ..."
One of my favorite movie quotes.
Thanks for this. I loved the first half of this book, but was not so keen on the second half. For that reason, I stopped reading it last year with 10 pages remaining. Is it worth finishing those final pages? I kind of feel as though I should leave it unfinished for the rest of my life so that the sense of mystery is even more acute.
I absolutely understand why you didn’t like the second half. It does feel a bit heavy-handed and loses the beautiful painterly quality of the first part. I think Lindsay was trying so hard to make connections, that she forced it. You can’t leave 10 pages though! Besides, the mystery is only solved in the final chapter that Lindsay’s editor had her remove. The missing chapter is where it gets very strange. Thanks for watching. Now, go finish the book and let me know what you think of the conclusion. LOL
@@strangeandscarystorytalk8871 Strange and Scary Story Talk, I will try and pluck up the courage to read the last ten pages then in due course. Really interesting insights provided in your talk about her interest in painting. Isn't it strange how art forms can blend? I love Morton Feldman's music, and he loved his painting too, which is fused with his art in a unique way. When people do it well, it provides fascinating results. Lindsay certainly does it well too. The novel feels like a dream; as though time is distorted. It is only short but seems much longer. And the heat and dryness remain long afterwards too...
You mentioned the " Miranda must go " movement.... that people were more concerned about the fate of a fictional character over those of real people .That reminded me of the young American girl who disappeared appeared while on a school trip .People were so worried about one young white girl whose family had money - with little thought of many pooer girls of different color and race who disappeared .
It’s not concern about the fate of a young white girl with access to wealth. People aren’t concerned. They are drawn to a parable they relate to. Being a stranger in a strange land, the fears, the juxtaposition of beauty and horror are sensations that are deeply held for many Australians who experience the outback.
It’s resonance with people does lay in the very fact that Joan Lindsay felt that it was all terribly real for her. Though it is fiction, it is still a patchwork of an older Victorian lady’s experience living in the region. The people are all inspired by her life, the events and themes of the book are from her life. The relationship with time and sapphic relations with women are themes in the story that greatly affected her real life.
It is for most people widely acknowledged that the story is fiction. And in that fiction we have created a mythology that is important to many people. Just as the people of the warundjiri and Kulin nations had a strong spiritual connection to a location; so do the people who have experience this story and spent time at the rock. It’s unfair of you to frame things as you did of Australians being low key racist because they celebrate an important piece of literature.
Chapter 18 is vital to the story. I regret that it was excluded. In Australia we have no tradition of faerie and I see Chapter 18 as placing what happened fair and squarely within the faerie realm. The crab transformation, for example, is not Aboriginal, but rather based on Greek and French fairy tale traditions. Thank you for your presentation. Here is my blog on the topic: michaelorganresearch.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-faerie-realm-of-joan-lindsays.html
This story has nothing to do with colour or racism..its about the disappearance of these school girls by an unseen force,which I think led them into another timezone,almost hypnotised...that's why there is an uneasy feeling with the people in the book/film that the girls have been taken against their will.