The Last Days of Ava Langdon
University of Queensland Press $29.95 pb, 224 pp, 9780702254154
The Last Days of Ava Langdon by Mark O’Flynn
Poet and novelist Mark O'Flynn lives in the same street in the Blue Mountains in which Eve Langley's derelict shack still stands. Perhaps her ghost drifts along the well-worn path from Leura to the Katoomba post office that she regularly traversed, in men's attire, pith helmet on head, machete in hand, to post off her latest manuscript to her bemused editor at Angus & Robertson, the poet Douglas Stewart.
Continue reading for only $2.50 per week. Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review. Already a subscriber? Sign in. If you need assistance, feel free to contact us.
The Last Days of Ava Langdon
by Mark O’Flynn
University of Queensland Press $29.95 pb, 224 pp, 9780702254154
Comment (1)
They were seen as unpublishable at the time because they didn't fit the paradigm of what a novel is, then, or now. Editors tend to like things that flow, that have some conventional narrative structure, and in editing they tend to smooth things out and make them more palatable for the general reader. ( I've had some experience of this).
In 'Wilde Eve' Lucy Frost condensed the manuscripts down to 300 pages and a narrative of Langley's life in New Zealand up to the time when it all unravelled for her. Very admirable and readable, but there is a big 'but' in my mind.
What if Langley"s writing has been smoothed out too much, and what are we missing of her flights of fancy.?Joy Thwaites' biography portrayed Langley though the prism of her madness, and everyone has seemed to do this. Perhaps she was just ahead of her time. I believe she is too good a writer to let her manuscripts continue to languish. Many of her contemporaries now seem dated and dull to me, but her words and ideas are still potent.
I think the publication of one of her manuscripts, with all its oddities would be an enlightening and enjoyable addition to our literary heritage. Would it gain enough readers to make it viable? People who read Kerouac and James Joyce might not find it too taxing.
Incidentally, while I enjoyed the book by O'Flynn, I thought it didn't do Langley justice. Some parts seemed quite slapstick(Langley running through the corridors of Katoomba Hospital) . Someone ought to have cautioned him about the tone at times. And Australia could still stand a decent biography of her.
Leave a comment
If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.
If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.
Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.