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June 11, 2008
Shirley Hazzard Interview
Bryan Appleyard, of "The Independent", wants to know if Shirley Hazzard is the greatest novelist of the 20th century?
One of her novels, The Transit of Venus, was described to me by a man who knows as "the greatest novel written in the past 100 years". Having read it, I can see his point. Another, The Great Fire, so overwhelmed me that I came close to being unable to read the last three pages. If the last sentence doesn't make you gasp and weep, you are not fully conscious. Yet she is underappreciated. Oh, she has won awards here and there, but somehow she is not routinely listed among the greats of the contemporary novel. It is time to put this right.
Posted by larrikin at June 11, 2008 10:15 AM
Comments
Nice to have Hazzard appreciated, but I don't think that is her best work--shades a little too much into romance for my tastes.
Posted by: Lucy Sussex at June 12, 2008 09:11 AM
I disagree, Lucy. I think she is a fine writer, and The Great Fire shows her to be one of the great writers of our time. To dismiss it because it includes a love story is analogous to writing off Pride and Prejudice as a romance!
Posted by: Lisa Hill at June 14, 2008 11:18 AM
The divine Shirley Hazzard. Transit of Venus stops you mid sentence as you absorb her brevity. It's poetry in prose.
A question to her at a recent interview about how much she writes everyday, she said, not every day, but a sentence is like gristle and sits for a few days until formed.
It may take her longer to write a book than most, but it's worth the wait.
Posted by: cat at June 24, 2008 11:52 AM