30

Happy 30th Birthday to me and my twin sister!

Exciting news...

National Library, Canberra. Image credit

I found out yesterday that I have been awarded a National Library Summer Scholarship! It includes return airfares to Canberra, six weeks accommodation at the Australian National University, access to the National library's materials, facilities and staff, as well as a $300 a week living allowance. It is a great opportunity for me to research for my PhD thesis and is so exciting!

de Beauvoir

Yesterday I went to a lecture by Constance Borde and Shelia Malovany-Chevallier, the translators of the new unabridged English language version of Simon de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. It was amazing to hear how this long awaited and desired new translation came about, the logistics of how one translates an 800 page text and the critical reception of the work.

I own a 1988 copy of The Second Sex, as translated by H.M Parshley (a zoology professor), and I was unaware that he had taken out much of de Beauvoir's philosophical language, cut whole sentences and paragraphs and mistranslated key words and sections of the text. This new translation has been long overdue, but will enable the English language reading public (and scholars) to revisit and reconsider de Beauvoir's work in the light of the restored and reinstated text. Her work still seems as current and important now as it did when it was first published in 1949, and this new translation is certainly worth seeking out.

PS. If you can't get to a bookstore, the book is available in Australia from Borders online. It is $12.11 with free postage: http://www.borders.com.au/book/the-second-sex/2202657/

Henri

Henri Cartier-Bresson | France. Paris. Place de l'Europe. 

Gare Saint Lazare 1932 | Collection: Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, 

Magnum Photos. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos

If you are in Brisbane over the next few weeks I suggest you take some time out to go and see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition that is currently on at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG). It is a stunning exhibition of black and white photographs beautifully displayed with white matt boards and black frames on cool grey walls. The exhibition includes some 260 photographs, as well displays of vintage magazines featuring Cartier-Bresson's work and a documentary made the year before his death. Cartier-Bresson is considered the father of photo-journalism, and while his works are candid "everyday" shots, he never lost his Surrealist appetite for the unusual. The exhibition in a wonderful journey through continents and decades and it made me want to pack a bag, grab a camera and a journal and some plane tickets out of the country.

Actually, I thought it was so good that I went twice, once with Dylan and once with my twin Christina, she had blogged about it here. I am now looking forward to the Matisse drawing exhibition that open next month at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) next to QAG.