Book Notes: 'For the Term of His Natural Life' by Marcus Clarke

For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This classic Australian novel is based on a good deal of historical research. This particular version includes an appendix outlining the references for the historical information in each chapter. The story is rather gripping and although the coming together of the main characters at the climax is rather unlikely, it serves to render a sound plot. The conclusion wraps up a sad story with a paradisiacal ending that is satisfying if not happy. That Clarke died at age 35 serves as a reminder that such genius is routinely short-lived. Despite the numerous abridged versions and part-stories I have experienced of this novel in film and television, this is my first full reading and it was long overdue.



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Cooking Notes: NFSA Pudding Recipe

After watching this 1930s cartoon pudding recipe from the National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA) some time ago, I had cause to buy some Australian raisins and sultanas recently and though I would give it a go. The kitchen of our 1926 federation house no doubt witnessed several steamed puddings, but my first ever attempt was probably the worst one made here! Fortunately, the house is a little less sexist than this film. The following recipe is also available here.

Ingredients

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 110g butter
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 cup plain flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp peach jam
• ¼ cup sultanas
• ½ cup raisins

Method

• Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and milk and stir well. Add flour, baking soda, salt, jam, sultanas and raisins and stir to combine.
• Pour the mixture into a well-greased tin and cover with greaseproof paper.
• Place the covered tin into a saucepan of boiling water with a lid and steam for one-and-a-half hours.

My take:

There were a few issues:

1. I used a Pyrex bowl instead of a tin. I had trouble putting the bowl into the saucepan because it is hard to put your hands down the inside of a pot of boiling water.
2. I over-filled the pot of water and the Pyrex bowl was too shallow. The top of the pudding was soggy, but I saved this by simply cutting it off. Because the bowl was too shallow, the top overflowed the bowl.
3. The greaseproof paper was saturated and did not do its job well. I read on another recipe that one should put pleats in the paper to allow the pudding to rise, and place a cloth over the paper so that it stays in place.
4. Next time, I will use a stainless steel bowl we have that might just be a pudding dish. It is deep and narrow (in the shape of a traditional pudding) and has a large lip around the top that will make it easy to insert and remove from the pot. Apparently these dishes are difficult to find so that is is a bonus that we have one.

Otherwise, we served this with a brandy custard made with fresh eggs from our backyard chickens. I liked it. Rather than "surreal", I found the experience all rather nostalgic. But I will try this recipe again allowing for the lessons learnt this first time.

Book Notes: "The White Peacock" by D.H. Lawrence

The White Peacock by D.H. Lawrence

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is always interesting to read a major author's last works first, and then delve into their first novel. I found myself spiralling down from a Love Among the Haystacks quaintness, to a period Enid Blyton curiosity, and finally to a period piece of young adult (YA) fiction. That is, until towards the end when the major characters are approaching middle age. This is where the back cover's "strange genius" is evident. The tone moves with the age of the characters. It is always difficult to limit the affect of introductions and other readings in how one interprets a novel, but I think here the back cover's "strange genius" is right. The botanical and ornithological details provided by the first-person narrator irritatingly reminded me of Jean M. Auel's endless treatise on herbalism in the Clan of the Cave Bear series, rather than being the fine poetry promised by the back cover. Nevertheless, if my view that Lawrence begins the novel with a teenage knowledge of the world and ends with an educated, middle age view of the world is correct, the flora and fauna provide the one constant theme, in the form of the knowledge of a hobbyist that is untouched by formal or social training or experience, that otherwise comes to bear as the characters age. The conclusion left me with a physical shudder. I think it is the ordinariness of the story that makes it so powerful. This is not a fanciful tale but a story that any one of us could, and in fact do, live out, and this is clearly the novel's great strength.



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