Robin Marsden’s Legacy to Quadrant
“Big Sister” Robin Marsden (1936–2021), who sadly succumbed to faculties-withering Parkinson’s disease in August after a long struggle, was a poetic spirit. She fastened onto an image from the American poet Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” In 2003, looking back on her earlier creative life, Robin mused, “I think I found the road ‘less travelled by’ or it found me.” It was serendipity that her road and the road that Quadrant was on intersected at a moment of mutual benefit and opportunity.
Robin offered Quadrant a rich background of English (plus German and French) literary studies, embracing all eras and genres, passionately enhanced over twenty years of meticulous, motivational scholarship and teaching. She had extensive critical experience, honed to the level of an instinctive perfectionist. To this she added inspirational drive and energy, an ability to persuade…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins