the portal

Satirist Martin Baum is to publish a compendium of Shakespeare – with a difference. He has re-written 15 of the plays in the kind of language which makes your parents groan and your grandparents stare blankly at you as if you’re from another planet. Hamlet becomes ‘Amlet, and “To be or not to be” becomes “To be or not to be innit?” The Two Gentleman of Verona” morph into “geezas”, and the synopsis of Romeo and Juliet is…

Verona was de turf of de feuding Montagues and de Capulet families, and coz they was always brawling and stuff, de prince of Verona told them to cool it or else they was gonna get well mashed if they carried on larging it with each other.

I have no problem with the many modern adaptations of the Bard’s plays, and I laud any attempt to make Shakespeare more accessible to young people, and more enjoyable as a school text. I think Baz Lurmann’s movie of Romeo and Juliet is exciting, passionate and loads of fun. However, I take umbrance at Baum’s claim that his abridged versions retain the essence of the originals, including “the important sexist, duplicitous, cross – dressing and violent moments that made William Shakespeare well wicked” (quoted in The Australian, 26/4/08, p. 13).

As far as I’m concerned, Shakespeare’s mesmerisingly beautiful language is the essence of his plays. Take that away and the power and the wonder is irrevocably diluted.  If Baum’s compendium is used to amuse and gently introduce students to the characters and plot of some wonderful stories so that they can understand the plays in their full glory – fantastic. If it’s used as a substitute for the real thing, burn it!

I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest. Anyone care to challenge me to a duel? (Of course the keyboard is mightier than the sword!)

Mrs Sweeney

Mrs. Clements’ post ‘Spineless’ has made apparent the commonly discussed competition between two of Australia’s biggest newspaper companies; the first being The Age, the second being The Herald Sun. Despite various political divergences between the two, some, including myself, believe that there is also a difference in the quality of content, appearance, appeal to the customer, and cost. However, in this article, I will focus mainly on the literary aspect.

I would also like to state that as I have an opinion already, this article will almost certainly be a biased account, so all those Herald Sun readers, please ignore this post.

It is increasingly obvious that the Age has a greater amount of content, as opposed to The Herald Sun whose pages are almost always filled with advertisements (this may seem like a hyperbole to some, but it’s true!). Most stories relate to either Big Brother scandals, the Biggest Loser, or some other worthless reality television show that takes up the majority of Channel Ten’s viewing time. Otherwise the journalists will have discovered some tragedy in the world, unveiled a perilous fraud or perhaps gotten a snap of someone in the worst possible circumstance. (For example, the ‘Cancer fraudster’ who was put into The Herald Sun eating some form of burger and a chocolate milkshake. Otherwise (in this same edition!), half of the newspaper will be filled with snapshots of judges surfing and skiing, as well as countless other hobbies. What The Herald Sun was trying to prove then, I am still unsure of…

Now is the perfect opportunity to juxtapose these scandalous acts with the noble writing of The Age journalists; Michelle Grattan with her evocative and inspirational political column, Michael Backman whose story opposed the Western media and its pro-Tibetan attitude, and accordingly was placed at the back of the BusinessDay. Okay, that’s one error, but in comparison to the foolish jabber produced by The Herald Sun, the fault of The Age is miniscule. And I haven’t even mentioned that marvellous little Odd Spot at the front page of The Age; What better way is there to jumpstart one’s morning than to have one extra bit of quirky information drifting through one thought to another? And whether its parody, satire or just plain good humour, the cartoonists (in particular Leunig) are unbeatable.

Sorry, I seem to be getting carried away. I know that there is so much more to write but I really must stop. I’d love to hear some opinions of other newspaper readers (of both sides of the argument!)…

By tyronec

Has any one else read the da vinci code?
I thought it was a really good book. It was gripping and hard to put down.

Seen in ”Your Say” in the Herald Sun on 24th April: “I was interested to read that Peter Costello is about to publish his memoirs. I wonder if the book will have a spine.”

 Mrs Clements

 The shortlist for the CBCA  Awards 2008 has been announced. After last year’s blistering reviews by the Scotch CBCA committee, I’m waiting with interest (and a little apprehension on behalf of all Australian authors) to hear your views. First impressions please? Have the judges chosen any books you’ve read?

The books in the Older Readers category are:

Pharaoh: The Boy Who Conquered the Nile by Jackie French

The Ghost’s Child by Sonya Hartnett

Marty’s Shadow by John Heffernan

Love Like Water by Meme McDonald

Black Water by David Metzenthen  and

Leaving Barrumbi by Leonie Norrington

Click here to see the ‘Notable’ books from which the shortlist was chosen.

Reviews of any of these books would be snapped up by The Portal - perhaps even rewarded!

Mrs Sweeney

Posted by Allan Q

Previously reading Deadly Unna, I would be happy to write a very short review for it. As for a school text at year 9 level at Scotch, I thought it was inappropriate. The book is written for a demographic of boys that need to look in the mirror to see how big they have grown in the last 5 minutes, and whose ideas of a female are well…..magazine style. While it does ‘grope’ with controversial teenagers of this age and demographic, it also deals with race discrimination, death and other things that may take part in teenagers’ lives, but to be critically analysed and then have teenagers who may not have dealt with these hard lined issues, to face up to them in a context (referring to the book) that may obviously repulse them. This book is written for a specific group of boys, not the general population. It deals with growing up in ways that may be new to some, and while this may be great for some, let teenagers either introduce themselves to it or have them ‘look back’ when they have matured.

I love this quote from Mark Knopfler…

Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.

Do you have any favourite quotes?

Mrs Sweeney

Grounded solidly in fact, this is the fictional story of a young boy forced to trek across Sudan into Ethiopa to escape the horrific civil war in his own country. It is packed with shocking revelations about the wholesale massacre of innocent villagers, the endemic slave trade and the complicity of the Sudanese government in this state of affairs.

Achak is only ten when Arab raiders gallop into his village and begin shooting the men, abducting the women and children and burning the huts. He flees the murder and mayhem, and eventually finds himself marching across bushland and desert along with thousands of other boys who are equally unaware that those who survive are destined to join the ‘Red Army’, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. The story of his flight leaves one amazed at the resilience of mere children and shocked beyond belief at what some have to endure. Eggers has cleverly intertwined the tale of the trek, with Achak’s experiences once he reaches the USA as a refugee. This strategy allows the reader to hope, because we know this desperate boy does survive.

Despite the subject matter, the book is not difficult to read. Incredibly, there are even moments of humour. Above all, it serves to highlight the plight of the many thousands of children orphaned by the Sudanese crisis and still suffering in refugee camps today. It is an eye-opening, gripping read.

You may like to read this review in the New York Magazine.

Mrs Sweeney

 Posted by Tyrone

The decline in the proper use of the English language has resulted in various forms of ‘computer language’, new acronyms, and an unfathomable amount of unnecessary slang. In addition, general grammatical rules – for example, the use of the apostrophe – are being abandoned to an age of instant communication and fast-paced business. Some of the major spoken flaws, although some of these are not publicly recognised (even to great intellectuals), include:

‘for free’ – greatest offender – commonly used on commercial television

‘have’ replaced by ‘got’ – for example, ‘I got a dog at home’

‘peoples’ – this is a word, although some deny it, but it is generally misused

like – like is meant to mean ’similar to’, yet some use it as a conjunction

And the list goes on…

(Image from http://www.penguin.com.au/covers-jpg/9780141300498.jpg 17/03/08).

Last year it was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (and one particular word), this year it’s Deadly Unna by Philip Gwynne (winner of The Book of the Year Award : Older Readers, Children’s  Book Council of Australia in 1999). Apparently, some parents and some educators in positions of influence are concerned about the offensive language and the attitudes to women portrayed by some characters in Deadly Unna. The result – students are being offered alternative set texts in some schools.

What do you think? Does seeing prejudice, racism, bias or misogyny displayed by fictional characters make this behaviour seem more acceptable to you? Are you more likely to adopt these attitudes because you’ve experienced them through books?

Would anyone care to write a review of Deadly Unna for The Portal?

 On the subject of how English is taught, Philip Pullman is very critical of the way English is being taught in the UK. This article in The Guardian doesn’t pull any punches.  http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1052077,00.html