Love and Art：爱和艺术.pdf

Coolabah, , 2015, ISSN 1988-5946, Observatori: Centre d’Estudis Australians / Australian Studies Centre, Universitat de Barcelona 101 Developing a Connective Feminine Discourse: Drusilla Modjeska on Women’s Lives, Love and Art Ulla Rahbek Copenhagen University Denmark ******@ Copyright?Ulla Rahbek2015. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged. Abstract:This paper discusses the work of the Australian writer and historian Drusilla Modjeska through a focus on the intersectionsbetween women?s lives, love and art, which constitute the central triptych of Modjeska?s writing. It argues that Modjeska?s oeuvre unfoldsa connective feminine discourse through a development of what the paper calls hinging tropes, discursive connectors that joinlife, love and art, such as weaving, folding and talking. That connective feminine discourse is indeed central to Modjeska?s personal and sometimes idiosyncratic feminism. Keywords: Drusilla Modjeska, Art, Femininity, Feminism,Discourse, Life, Love, Women “[F]or ?life? and ?art?–those two huge categories –rarely fortably together; men and women almost invariably take different positions and get angry.”(Stravinsky’s Lunch, 17) “?With art,? Rika said. ?That can be a love affair, yes?? ?Oh, yes,? Gina said. ?The greatest of love affairs.? She paused for a moment, looked at Rika, smiled. ?But not necessarily the best?” (The Mountain, 68).This piece of conversation between protagonist Rika, a budding photographer, and the librarian Gina,from Drusilla Modjeska?s 2012 novel The Mountain, highlights a central concern in Modjeska?s work –the rolesof love and art in women?s lives. In all of her generically varied and experimental writing, Modjeska?s enduring interest isin the complexity