tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post7638629319089601117..comments2024-01-26T20:41:02.065+13:00Comments on Quote Unquote: Nigel Cox on C.K. Stead: the prologueStephen Stratfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-86180938547769766492010-04-12T17:55:33.554+12:002010-04-12T17:55:33.554+12:00Sorry Stephen, I don't have inside information...Sorry Stephen, I don't have inside information - just a strong hunch. I enjoy reading the SST and I noticed some striking similarities between Grimshaw's story and a real life story that unfolded within the pages of the publication in 2006/07. <br /><br />I really enjoyed Stead's winning story and I'm a big fan of Grimshaw's work as well. But have a look at this if you get the chance: http://nzbookmonth.co.nz/blogs/charlotte_grimshaw/archive/2007/09/20/1834.aspx<br /><br />It made me think twice about the title 'Last Season's Man'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-58321108495913040342010-04-12T17:05:50.360+12:002010-04-12T17:05:50.360+12:00"First Charlotte Grimshaw's 'Terroris..."First Charlotte Grimshaw's 'Terrorism'. Now this."<br /><br />I don't follow, Louie. I have just now re-read the story in "Opportunity" and it doesn't seem obviously based on real-life incidents or people, or written with revenge in mind. But judging by your blog you must know whereof you speak. Can you - tactfully - clarify?Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-47830821762970102362010-04-11T23:37:26.416+12:002010-04-11T23:37:26.416+12:00Yes, Big Dawg, Nigel was indeed a tennis player. W...Yes, Big Dawg, Nigel was indeed a tennis player. We used to play at the Chelsea sugar factory tennis courts in Northcote/Birkenhead. The match would start with our friend Grant shaking lethal cocktails, which was his way of cheating: Nigel's then co-manager of Unity Books Jo wore a very tight and low frock to distract the heterosexual males when she bent down to pick up the ball, which was her way of cheating; and Nigel was really good, which I still regard as another way of cheating.Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-68818507553329004082010-04-11T23:11:15.876+12:002010-04-11T23:11:15.876+12:00First Charlotte Grimshaw's 'Terrorism'...First Charlotte Grimshaw's 'Terrorism'. Now this.<br /><br />Thank heavens I'm not a prominent New Zealand writer. Who will they turn on next?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-53066108055093550082010-04-11T22:38:17.787+12:002010-04-11T22:38:17.787+12:00Wasn't the afore-mentioned Nigel Cox a tennis ...Wasn't the afore-mentioned Nigel Cox a tennis player?Big Dawgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-83289713356575195622010-04-11T22:28:24.916+12:002010-04-11T22:28:24.916+12:00Beckett was not the only literary sportsman. I bel...Beckett was not the only literary sportsman. I believe that Amis jr is handy at tennis, as is another one of that crowd - Julian Barnes? There must be others.<br /><br />In NZ we have Brian Turner in poetry, hockey and cycling. I believe that Owen Marshall is a keen tennis player. Alan Duff is a golfer. I'm not sure about the current VUP crowd, but I do know that Sarah Sandley, who is publisher of the Listener and has a PhD in NZ lit, is also a table-tennis international. She played in an international tournament last weekend and came fifth. As Cactus Kate would say, quite hot for a chick her age.Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-70263147358995838762010-04-10T05:41:48.407+12:002010-04-10T05:41:48.407+12:00S - Beckett was a sporting all rounder. Tennis, go...S - Beckett was a sporting all rounder. Tennis, golf and rugby although faded in the last quarter of the latter, apparently ("flopped among the daisies" as his French colleagues put it).Chad Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07868991266873391804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-56806912066212465392010-04-09T13:18:44.143+12:002010-04-09T13:18:44.143+12:00Denis, I share your admiration for the headline-wr...Denis, I share your admiration for the headline-writers at the Sun, if not for the contents of the newspaper itself. Please do let us know if your researches identify CK as a footballer.<br /><br />Similarly tangential, not many people know that Samuel Beckett played first-class cricket, for Trinity College I believe. Only two games, but still. "A left-hand opening batsman, possessing what he himself called a gritty defence, and a useful left-arm medium-pace bowler, he never lost his affection for, and interest in, cricket" it says at http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/318784.htmlStephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-81395960815980932892010-04-09T13:10:10.332+12:002010-04-09T13:10:10.332+12:00Yes, Melior and Helena, it isn't one of Stead&...Yes, Melior and Helena, it isn't one of Stead's best. I am a fan of his short stories generally, from "Five for the Symbol" to "The Blind Blonde with Candles in Her Hair", but this one is, leaving aside what NZ readers bring to it as background knowledge, thin stuff. The whole affair is very puzzling: why he would write and want to publish something so savage towards a woman who has never done him any harm - it's not Nigel Cox who has been hurt by this, it is his widow - and why the English judges thought it worthy of a prize. He really can do better than this.Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-2116374658000822612010-04-08T19:21:56.914+12:002010-04-08T19:21:56.914+12:00It's a bit tangential but I happen to have a s...It's a bit tangential but I happen to have a soft spot for Swedes, ever since the great moment when Sweden's soccer team beat England 2 - 0. This created one of the great headlines of our age, appearing in of course, The Sun. 'Swedes 2 Turnips 0'. I am not sure there is much of a connection to the Karlster, because I happen to believe he wasn't in the team, but I am working on it.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00820333400860287789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-87669685443108837502010-04-08T13:52:48.074+12:002010-04-08T13:52:48.074+12:00What Melior Farbro said. That is a really weak sto...What Melior Farbro said. That is a really weak story. It's professional writing as you'd expect but it's unconvincing. And when you piece together the background, it just seems nasty.Helena Handcartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-5988979683870497222010-04-07T12:45:16.888+12:002010-04-07T12:45:16.888+12:00I don't know anything about Nigel Cox but that...I don't know anything about Nigel Cox but that story 'Last season's man' wouldn't win a prize in New Zealand - it's crap. The other entries must have been really bad.Melior Farbronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-55988865827538346242010-04-07T09:30:10.250+12:002010-04-07T09:30:10.250+12:00'Robert: whom would you nominate then?'
W...'Robert: whom would you nominate then?'<br /><br />Well for finest living NZ writer you've got Lloyd Jones, Elizabeth Knox, Maurice Gee, Vincent O'Sullivan, Owen Marshall and Jenny Bornholdt, just off the top of my head. <br /><br />Stead may have been a good critic in his day but he is absurdly over-rated as a poet. His novels are patchy, to say the least. And that short story that won the award is average at best. It's nowhere near as good, for example, as the recent collections by his daughter Charlotte Grimshaw. She can really write.Robert Smith (the other one)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-18569455647806412812010-04-06T16:56:13.856+12:002010-04-06T16:56:13.856+12:00Denis: I'm not sure that Karl would be flatter...Denis: I'm not sure that Karl would be flattered by inheriting the mantle from Crump. <br /><br />And if you are the Denis who contributed so much to this blog's dead-tree predecessor, I would have thought, given your Oirish ancestry, that you would nominate not a swede but a spud - an O'Sullivan, O'Farrell, O'Ireland, O'Marshall or O'Lay. Have you thought this through?Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-49658858416485572062010-04-06T16:47:23.199+12:002010-04-06T16:47:23.199+12:00Robert: whom would you nominate then? Not arguing ...Robert: whom would you nominate then? Not arguing at all, just curious.Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-51250487126014910952010-04-05T09:41:31.551+12:002010-04-05T09:41:31.551+12:00Yep, now that Barry Crump is no longer with us the...Yep, now that Barry Crump is no longer with us the title (Greatest Living Writer, Literary God, and National Living Treasure) surely does belong to the Karlster.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00820333400860287789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-69874934343042678712010-04-01T12:07:42.323+13:002010-04-01T12:07:42.323+13:00'New Zealand’s finest living writer'?
Sno...'New Zealand’s finest living writer'?<br /><br />Snort.Robert Smith (the other one)noreply@blogger.com