One of the most insightful descriptions of The Victoria Principle you are likely to come across is by Michael Farrell himself, in what he refers to as a note. In part, he says, “Some [stories] are purely fictional, some are partly autobiographical, or give clues – and red herrings – about my life, or rather gestures towards the narration and representation of it: as quotidian, magical, emotional, comedic.” It’s advisable to read his note in full before you go any further.
Farrell has six volumes of poetry published; it would seem there were stories, opinions, reminiscences, jokes and goodness knows what else he wanted to tell, which he felt were better suited to the short story form rather than poetry. The result is a collection of short pieces with the lilt and beauty of poetry – lyrical verse, perhaps, in the wolf’s clothing of the conventional short story.
Whatever you call these pieces, every story is enjoyable, though some, like ‘Aphrodite’s Conversations With Paris’ are more intellectually challenging than others. (That is, if your recollection of Greek mythology leaves something to be desired.)
Many of the stories are a mix of recollections intertwined with musings or discourse on various subjects leavened with autobiographical anecdotes or literary allusions. In some of the tales there is a total lack of paragraphs, which can make reading difficult. Yet here, it somehow adds pace, relaying a sort of breathlessness in the telling, almost as if the author feared to be interrupted – although at times he interrupts himself in amusing and diverse ways.
Then there is Farrell’s description of an imaginary and ridiculous movie shown on ‘Feltnix’ called The Flower Gods, which:
decontextualised the names of famous figures in human history, so that Napoleon … was not an emperor or even Corsican-French. His father was Gandhi, who was not Indian, nor a guru, nor a leader. Napoleon, a stage actor, had in fact fallen in love with Cleopatra, a pilot, and the daughter of Gandhi’s business rival, Hitler. It was all very tragic and highly affecting. I tried to keep watching it … but, despite its originality, it was the tone of it all that I couldn’t bear, as if its only purpose was to teach teenagers … about the way things were, and would be, in the HSC and VCE examinations that were currently being reconstructed, and renationalised …
While such writing is light-hearted, you could fruitfully spend some time analysing what Farrell is getting at. The way he repeatedly mixes fact and fiction is appealing, prompting the reader to question and think more deeply about reality – and his opinions are persuasive. Protection felt like repression when we were young, he mentions. He talks about the myth of Australian culture “invoiced also, so in some sense to identify with Christianity”. Pages could be filled with examples such as these.
Farrell has created, then, one of the most original and compelling collection of short works I have ever come across. The writing is fluid, poetic and enthralling. It is both easy and challenging to read and begs to be re-read.
Read: Book review: Rytuał, Chloe Elisabeth Wilson
If you like reading poetry, you will like these stories – not because they have been written by a poet but because they are poetic. If you like anecdotes and humour, you will find a great deal of it in these pages, not all of it tongue-in-cheek. If you are not well versed in the ancients, you may miss some of Farrell’s allusions but not all the fun.
And if you are tempted to give this book a miss because you wish to avoid so-called literary works, that would be a mistake. The evident joy Farrell’s experienced in writing them is highly contagious.
The Victoria Principle, Michael Farrell
Publisher: Giramondo
ISBN:9781923106307
Pages: 178 pp
Format: Paperback
RRP: $29.95
Publication date: 1 May 2025
