The Museum of Modern Love

Last updated

The Museum of Modern Love
The Museum of Modern Love cover.jpeg
cover of 2nd edition, 2018
Author Heather Rose
Cover artistSandy Cull
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Published2016 (Allen & Unwin)
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages286
ISBN 9781760291860

The Museum of Modern Love is the seventh novel by Australian writer Heather Rose. The book won three literary awards, including the 2017 Stella Prize.

Contents

Rose was influenced by performance artist Marina Abramovic's The Artist Is Present, where the latter sat for eight hours a day for 75 days at the Museum of Modern Art in New York while spectators watched. [1]

Plot

The main character, Arky Levin, composes soundtracks for movies. His wife, Lydia Fiorentino, has a degenerative illness and, fearing his inability to care for her, has moved into a full-time care facility. Arky finds himself drawn to the Museum of Modern Art, where he watches Marina Abramovic's daily performances. Other visitors to the exhibition become part of the narrative as do his colleagues and friends. The book details his search for meaning in his life. [2] [3] [4]

Major themes

The chair of the 2017 Stella Prize judges, Brenda Walker, claimed the book was full of "such dazzling and subtle explorations of the importance of art in everyday life". [5] Reviewer Camilla Nelson describes the book as "a fictional exploration of the power of art to transform individual lives, written in exquisite prose, with rare and subtle insight". [5]

Publication history

Literary significance and reception

Louise Swinn [7] in The Sydney Morning Herald noted that "this bold new novel by Heather Rose is an astute meditation on art, bravery, friendship, love, how to live, and on dying." [8]

Peter Pierce in the Sydney Review of Books notes in a review of all Rose's works, leading up to and including The Museum of Modern Love, "Heather Rose's career as a novelist has been pursued with a calm daring... All her fiction presents challenges to the heart and to the inquiring mind." [9]

The Book Page's Annie Peters notes "The Museum of Modern Love is an engaging, multifaceted meditation on the meaning of life and art. Rose sets this exploration in the context of one man's compelling midlife search for direction as he observes Abramović's fleeting art, which the novel intriguingly brings back to life. This is a brilliant find for any reader who enjoys grappling with the larger questions of life and literature, and it is an excellent choice for book clubs seeking thought-provoking discussion." [10]

A review by NPR (USA) by Heller McAlpin [11] on 10 December 2018 titled "Art Restores The Soul In 'Museum Of Modern Love' " notes that Rose "displays a deep appreciation of art and a deft ability to blend fact, fiction, abstract ideas, and sentiment..." [12]

The Museum of Modern Love was the first book by Rose to be published in the United States. [2] It was also the first of her books to be set outside her home state of Tasmania. Tacey Rychter of The New York Times profiled Rose in November 2018 on the eve of launch event at the Museum of Modern Art. [13]

Rose was honoured when Abramovic agreed to launch that edition in the Museum of Modern Art in 2018. [13]

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

A theatre adaptation by Tom Holloway premiered at the 2022 Sydney Festival. [18]

The Sydney Morning Herald noting "The Museum of Modern Love's shift to stage is unmissable". [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Erdrich</span> American author (born 1954)

Karen Louise Erdrich is an American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Franklin</span> Australian writer and feminist

Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel My Brilliant Career, published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While she wrote throughout her life, her other major literary success, All That Swagger, was not published until 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marina Abramović</span> Serbian performance artist

Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Being active for over four decades, Abramović refers to herself as the "grandmother of performance art". She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body". In 2007, she founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a non-profit foundation for performance art.

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Miller (writer)</span> Australian novelist

Alexander McPhee Miller is an Australian novelist. Miller is twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award, in 1993 for The Ancestor Game and in 2003 for Journey to the Stone Country. He won the overall award for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for The Ancestor Game in 1993. He is twice winner of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize for Conditions of Faith in 2001 and for Lovesong in 2011. In recognition of his impressive body of work and in particular for his novel Autumn Laing he was awarded the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Haslett</span> American writer and journalist (born 1970)

Adam Haslett is an American fiction writer and journalist. His debut short story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, and his second novel, Imagine Me Gone, were both finalists for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy in Berlin. In 2017, he won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Kathryn Heyman is an Australian writer of novels and plays. She is the director of the Australian Writers Mentoring Program and Fiction Program Director of Faber Writing Academy.

Charlotte Wood is an Australian novelist. The Australian newspaper described Wood as "one of our [Australia's] most original and provocative writers".

Steven Carroll is an Australian novelist. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria and studied at La Trobe University. He has taught English at secondary school level, and drama at RMIT. He has been Drama Critic for The Sunday Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Andrea Goldsmith is an Australian writer and novelist, known for her 2002 novel The Prosperous Thief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmanian literature</span> Tasmanian literature

Tasmania, for its size and population, has a flourishing literary culture. Its history offers an eventful literary background with visits from early explorers such as the Dutchman Abel Tasman, the Frenchmen Bruni d'Entrecasteaux and Marion du Fresne and then the Englishmen Matthew Flinders and George Bass. Colonisation coincided with deteriorated relations with indigenous Aboriginal people and a harsh convict heritage. These events in Tasmanian history are found in a large number of colonial sandstone buildings and in place names. Environmentally, the landscapes and changeable weather provide a vivid literary backdrop. Tasmania's geographical isolation, creative community, proximity to Antarctica, controversial past, bourgeoning arts reputation, and island status all contribute to its significant literature. Many fiction and non-fiction authors call Tasmania home, and many acclaimed titles are set there or written by Tasmanians. The journal of letters Island magazine appears quarterly. Tasmania's government provides arts funding in the form of prizes, events and grants. Bookshops contribute book launches and other literary events. Tasmania's unique history and environment gave rise to Tasmanian Gothic literature in the 19th century.

Alexis Wright is a Waanyi writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria and the 2018 Stella Prize for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" Tilmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara June Winch</span> Australian writer

Tara June Winch is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book The Yield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle de Kretser</span> Australian novelist (born 1957)

Michelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka, and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Rose</span> Australian author

Heather Rose is an Australian author born in Hobart, Tasmania. She is the author of the acclaimed memoir Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here. She is best known for her novels The Museum of Modern Love, which won the 2017 Stella Prize, and Bruny (2019), which won Best General Fiction in the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards. She has also worked in advertising, business, and the arts.

Kris Kneen is a Brisbane-based writer. Kneen has been shortlisted four times for the Queensland Premier's Literary Award.

Andrew Hutchinson is an Australian writer, from Melbourne, who was born in 1979.

This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Engel</span> Colombian-American writer

Patricia Engel is a Colombian-American writer, professor of creative writing at the University of Miami, and author of five books, including Vida, which was a PEN/Hemingway Fiction Award Finalist and winner of the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana, Colombia's national prize in literature. She was the first woman, and Vida the first book in translation, to receive the prize.

<i>Terra Nullius</i> (Coleman novel) Australian speculative novel

Terra Nullius is a 2017 speculative fiction novel by Claire G. Coleman. It draws from Australia's colonial history, describing a society split into "Natives" and "Settlers."

References

  1. Edelstein, Gabriella. "The Museum of Modern Love reminds us to engage with art – and each other". The Conversation. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 McAlpin, Heller (10 December 2018). "Art Restores The Soul In 'Museum Of Modern Love'". NPR.
  3. Swinn, Louise (20 October 2016). "The Museum of Modern Love review: Heather Rose's artistic novel about art". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. Stewart, Jessica (16 January 2019). "HEATHER ROSE: The Museum of Modern Love". The Newtown Review of Books. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 Nelson, Camilla (18 April 2017). "Exquisite prose, with rare and subtle insight". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Museum of Modern Love". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  7. "Louise Swinn". Louise Swinn. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  8. Swinn, Louise (20 October 2016). "The Museum of Modern Love review: Heather Rose's artistic novel about art". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  9. Pierce, Peter (17 February 2017). "The Mischievous Artistry of Heather Rose: The Museum of Modern Love". Sydney Review of Books. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  10. Peters, Annie (2 November 2018). "The Museum of Modern Love". BookPage | Discover your next great book!. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  11. "Heller McAlpin". NPR. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  12. McAlpin, Heller (10 December 2018). "Art Restores The Soul In 'Museum Of Modern Love'". NPR.
  13. 1 2 Rychter, Tacey (26 November 2018). "An Artist Who Explores Emotional Pain Inspires a Novel That Does the Same". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  14. Convery, Stephanie (18 April 2017). "Stella prize 2017: Heather Rose's The Museum of Modern Love wins award". The Guardian.
  15. Convery, Stephanie (18 April 2017). "Stella prize 2017: Heather Rose's The Museum of Modern Love wins award". The Guardian.
  16. Hodgman, Will (27 November 2017). "Winners of the 2017 Premier's Literary Prizes". Department of Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  17. "ALS Gold Medal 2017 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  18. "The Museum of Modern Love – Sydney Festival 2022". Seymour Centre. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  19. Shand, John (26 January 2022). "The Museum of Modern Love's shift to stage is unmissable". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 February 2024.