Arts Today Transcript
Michael Cathcart interviews Professor Garry Newfield on the Agent Archives.
First broadcasted 27th August 2051.
(This electronically produced transcript has been enhanced to include mood content and analysis.)
Michael
Today I'd like to welcome Professor Garry Newfield from the Bundoora Campus of Bendigo University. Garry's interest is the general Arts at the turn of the century. Welcome to Arts Today, Garry.
Garry
Thank you Michael. It's good to be here.
Michael
Clearly the Australian canon of arts about the turn of century should include the obvious masterpieces of that period, the AFL team themes, the TV commercials, the political speeches of the 2002 Prime Minister. However it has been argued that the output, from what has become known as the Campbell School, is also worthy of inclusion.
(the term "Campbell School" is being used here as an artistic grouping as in, for example, "Heidelberg School" - ed)
Garry
Simply quite wrong.
Michael disconcerted, as the importance of the Campbell School was central to his interview plan
Simply quite wrong?
Garry
Why, the Campbell School is head and shoulders above the rest of the canon. It should be a canon on its own! There is no debate, on this I agree with Steiner, a critic can be dogmatic.
("all criticism is, in its moments of truth,
dogmatic", George Steiner, "Tolstoy or Dostoevsky" -ed)
Michael relieved, the interview is back on track
It was a remarkable collection of people, poets, thespians, musicians. And the Capt'n, a person who had the remarkable talent of establishing an atmosphere that attracted talent.
Garry
The Ambience.
Michael
Now, I understand you have something new on that elusive member of the Campbell School, Agent.
Garry
My research group has been shifting through the rubble of the Applied Science 2 building.
Michael
The building collapsed in 2021, if I remember correctly, as a result of being overloaded with security devices and the associated cabling?
Garry
Yes, and it is only recently that we received permission from the National Trust to do exploration on the site. You can imagine our excitement when we found a back-up CD from Agent's computer. Together with the CD were some handwritten notes. Both the CD and the notes were dated 27th August 2001.
Michael profoundly
Fifty years ago to the day.
Garry
The notes were on a printout of the promo "Whiskers on Kittens".
Michael
A well known work. Do the notes help with the interpretation of the work?
Garry
Yes. It appears that there was a suggestion made at the Campbell Bar that Agent should publish an annotation of the work. Agent made notes, but did not proceed with publication because of that dramatic series of events initiated when he inadvertently swiped the door security unit with his Visa card.
Michael
Inadvertently swiped?
Garry
Well that's what he said at the proceedings; we have the discs.
Michael
Oh, of course.
(both laugh knowingly)
Listeners will remember the episode in the library where Agent practises his elocution. Do the notes throw any light on the identity of the two library girls? The debate on this point has been as intense as that on Shakespeare's mysterious "Dark Lady of the Sonnets".
Garry
There are two annotations on that part of the printout. The first reads from email. And sure enough a search of his email boxes reveals an email addressed to Agent containing the expression "In their dreams". It is used in the context of rejecting a suggestion from authority. It appears likely that Agent was attracted by the expression and appropriated it. The encounter with the first girl was most likely fabricated for that purpose.
Michael
And the second girl, the one that gave him the "shiner".
Garry
Ah, all we have is the cryptic note. she who is, will know.
Michael
So it was a real episode?
Garry
I suspect a real girl, but not a real episode. The boundary between reality and fantasy is never clear in Agent's works, in fact I don't believe it was clear in his own mind. This vagueness, and many other academic mysteries, can be attributed to the hallucinatory effect of chalk dust which was finally quantified by Dover in 2018.
Michael
Perhaps we might move on to the verse, "My Favourite Things".
Garry with a hint of correction
To the poetry. Now that is interesting.
Michael
Perhaps, Garry, you could just walk us through it.
Garry
Certainly Michael. I'll comment on Agent's annotations where they appear. The first of note is against the line "and starting price bookies". It reads O to A & G Debate. Agent is alluding here to the Verrinder work "Owed to Arthur" [available - ed] and the Great Debate promo [available - ed]. It is quite clear from several sources that Agent has only the vaguest ideas about horse racing and betting.
Michael
Now comes the line, "Small sexy packages with mysterious rings". That line is in itself rather mysterious.
Garry
Have you heard the Limerick attributed to Agent? I won't recite it in full, not even on the ABC, however the opening lines are,
There was a young pro from Cologne
with a sexy miniature phone
and it finishes with
where it startled her marks with its tone.
Michael
I see, before phone implants were commmon place, phones were small handheld electronic objects, conceivably "small sexy packages". Does Agent give any indication that this was what he intended?
Garry
Yes, the note, PG's phone.
Michael
Well that clinches it. However there's a puzzle, JG's work of course we know, [see for example, Nancy - ed] but who on earth is PG?
Garry
No idea. The next note Agent has is against the line,
"Mateship that jostles with friendship that clings".
His note reads good line, wrong poem.
Michael
He's almost implying he could do better.
Garry
That's hard to believe! (both laugh)
Michael
Now these "girls in smart jackets with daffodil badges"?
Garry
One of my students solved that one. That week included Daffodil Day which was an important fundraising event for the Anti-Council. On that day people were encouraged to buy and wear daffodil badges. Agent has the note - delighted to see G. at Bar in smart jacket with daffodil badge.
Michael
The names of the girls,
"The Sues and Diannes the Karens and Madges",
are they significant?
Garry
Agent writes,
names completely arbitrary - well, almost.
I think there's scope there for further work, Michael.
Michael
The line that's out of place is,
"Notes from Finances with ominous warnings."
Such a note could hardly be a "favourite thing"?
Garry
Agent comments this line like an adventure while travelling, good value, afterwards. Agent was ill at ease with plastic cards. See how the card theme reoccurs in "Twenty Seconds to Midnight", "Alyosha", "The Lunch" and the Great Debate promotion. I think perhaps having passed unscathed through some crisis associated with a plastic card Agent felt a sense of elation that made the experience a "favourite thing".
Michael
I can see that. Now just one further question. In the line,
"when ol' Mic rings" , who was "ol' Mic"?
Garry
Any suggestion that ol' Mic is a real character, in my opinion, is just pure fantasy.
Michael
What is real, but bizarre enough to be fantasy, is that the tradition of the Campbell Bar is still continuing.
Garry
Yes, on the Bendigo Campus, Fridays at five, I believe.
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