25 February 1999
February 1999
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Transcript
This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.
Feb l - 26
The Cardboard Crown
by Martin Boyd
When Guy Langton inherits the family home on the death of his brother, Dominic, he discovers letters that his grandmother, Alice, had written between the l870s and l890s. The discovery of these letters leads Guy to tell his family's history and to see Alice as its central figure. Guy thinks of her story as the subject for a novel; his own task then becomes that of discovery, narration, and creation from the remnants of the past.
Martin Boyd was born in Switzerland in l893 and grew up in Melbourne. At the outbreak of the First World War he travelled to England and joined an English regiment and later the Royal Flying Corps. In l948, at the height of his literary success, he returned to Australia.
Most of his novels are based on his preoccupation with his own Anglo-Australian family. He moved to Rome in l957 and lived there till his death in June, l972. His novels include Lucinda Brayford, The Cardboard Crown, A Difficult Young Man, Outbreak Of Love and When Blackbirds Sing.
Reader Ivar Kants
Adaptation John Hannaford
Sound engineer Colin Preston
Producer Anne Wynter
