Till the cows come home

There’s an election coming up in Aus, so this seems appropriate.

Women Growing Old

April is my birthday month and as T. S Eliot says

April is the cruellest month,

Breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

Mixing memory and desire….

I can’t add, as he does, ‘stirring dull roots with spring rain’, because April is autumn here and the leaves are falling, but whenever these anniversaries occur, I tend to reflect on my life. How many more birthdays will I see, how long will I remain strong and energetic? It is useful to think upon these matters, for, as Marcus Aurelius said, ‘We are all creatures of a day.’ It was for this reason I took on my self-appointed task for this month; reading inspiring books by or about old women. Could I learn something that would assist me to grow older with wisdom?

Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities

Alive, Alive, Oh!: And Other Things That Matter : Diana Athill

I am finding my project of reading books by or about very old women rather dispiriting. Why am I surprised that a major concern seems to be being put away in a nursing home by families who have had enough? I am able to assure you, though, this seems to happen after one reaches the ninety mark; able bodied women in the seventies and eighties seem to be able to be independent for the time being. But so far three of the books I have read have a common thread; the old female protagonist runs away from home in an attempt to remain free. Although this is usually doomed to failure due to their debility.

Richard Howard 1929-2022

Théophile Gautier

Elizabeth Strout : Olive Kitteridge

Naomi Alderman: Disobedience

Margaret Laurence : The Stone Angel

My project for April, to read eight (or more) books by or about very old women is off to a roaring start with The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. I am ashamed to say that while I have read a few Canadian authors, Carol Shields, Robertson Davies, Emily St John Mandel and Margaret Atwood, I had not heard of Margaret Laurence. I now discover she is a superb writer, up there with the truly greats, awarded honours in Canada with university departments named after her, and an essential  early member of an emerging Canadian literature tradition.