the wasteland redux
May. 25th, 2008 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adelaideseanWay back in 2004, I was invited to speak to the Friends of the Barr Smith Library at Adelaide Uni. The text of that talk--"Writing in the Wasteland"--has been up on my site for ages.
Here's an excerpt:
'The wasteland I want to talk about tonight is not the usual sort of "blasted plain" found on the maps in fantasy novels, or the post-Apocalyptic wilderness of a lot of old-style SF. It's nothing other than our fair city of Adelaide, South Australia. ...
'Many here will remember Salman Rushdie's visit to Adelaide for Writers' Week in 1984. He wrote of the "grim enigma of Adelaide" in the Tatler, saying that: "Adelaide is an ideal setting for a Stephen King novel, or horror film. You know why all those films and books are always set in sleepy, conservative towns?" he asked. "Because sleepy, conservative towns are where those things happen. Exorcism, omens, shining, poltergeists. Adelaide is Amityville, or Salem, and things here go bump in the night."'
Anyway, now you can download and listen to the actual audio of the event. Click here and follow the prompt. Perfect for insomniacs everywhere.
Here's an excerpt:
'The wasteland I want to talk about tonight is not the usual sort of "blasted plain" found on the maps in fantasy novels, or the post-Apocalyptic wilderness of a lot of old-style SF. It's nothing other than our fair city of Adelaide, South Australia. ...
'Many here will remember Salman Rushdie's visit to Adelaide for Writers' Week in 1984. He wrote of the "grim enigma of Adelaide" in the Tatler, saying that: "Adelaide is an ideal setting for a Stephen King novel, or horror film. You know why all those films and books are always set in sleepy, conservative towns?" he asked. "Because sleepy, conservative towns are where those things happen. Exorcism, omens, shining, poltergeists. Adelaide is Amityville, or Salem, and things here go bump in the night."'
Anyway, now you can download and listen to the actual audio of the event. Click here and follow the prompt. Perfect for insomniacs everywhere.
