A few times on this weblog I have mentioned my interest in C.J. Dennis, though I probably haven't gone into any major detail about "why" I have that interest or "what" that interest entails. The "why" can wait for another day, but I've made a bit of headway with Dennis lately so a bit of the "what" follows.
C.J. Dennis spent the later part of his life working as a resident columnist for Melbourne's Herald newspaper, between the years 1922 and 1938. During this period he basically averaged four or five pieces of work published in the paper per week. These were mainly poems but also included short stories, "colour" pieces and polemics. The vast bulk of this work has never been reprinted and it's been an aim of mine to transcribe the work and make it available once more. And today I finished one full year of Dennis's Herald work. In 1934 he published 223 pieces in the paper, 98 of which were prose pieces, along with 125 poems. It's a large body of work, and it has now all been transcribed. It's only taken bits and pieces of my spare time for the past three years or so, and at this rate I might just get it all typed up by the time I hit 105. If nothing else it keeps me off the streets.
