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'The poems within marionette: notes toward the life of miss marion davies are drawn from my longer poetic biography of the early cinema actress, who was the long-time lover of millionaire media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Marion's silencing by the early cinema screen provides a powerful metaphor for her subsequent ‘silencing’ by Hearst, who largely controlled her career and—as much as he could—her actions in public. Marion’s story is marked by whispers, gossip, rumors, lies, and plot holes. marionette is an attempt to enact and recover Marion’s playful voice and spirit.' (Publication summary)
Adaptations
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y
Marionette : A Biography of Miss Marion Davies
Simon Charles
(composer),
Victoria
:
Sibercha Records
,
2018
16606520
2018
selected work
poetry
'“Marion Davies is perhaps best known for her 30-year affair with media mogul William Randolph Hearst, whose influence was instrumental in shaping her public image as an early cinema actress. The millionaire tycoon largely controlled her career and—as much as he could—her actions in public. Whilst there are countless biographies on William Randolph Hearst, there are very few texts written specifically on Marion Davies. The closest we can get to her story is an autobiography, The Times We Had: Life with William Randolph Hearst, cobbled together from a series of taped interviews, in which Marion often conceals the truth to protect her lover and friends.
'Jessica L. Wilkinson’s original text marionette: a biography of miss marion davies (published by Vagabond in 2012) draws attention to the gaps and inconsistencies in her story, whilst also attempting—playfully—to locate the voice and spirit of a woman whose story can never be fully told.
'This album release documents the creative partnership between Simon Charles and Jessica Wilkinson, which brings Wilkinson’s text into a CD format. Read by Wilkinson herself, the text is accompanied by a collage of instrumental and electro-acoustic performances. The album explores the fragmentation and disintegration of text, manipulation of vocal utterance, and a construction of Davies’ image through peripheral threads of narrative and sound.”"' (Production abstract)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Words Take Shape on the Printed Page
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 June 2014; (p. 7)
— Review of Australian Poetry Journal vol. 3 no. 2 2014 periodical issue ; Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry -
X Marks the Parataxis : Louis Armand, John Kinsella and Jessica L. Wilkinson
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May no. 46.0 2014; 'Displacement is apparent both geographically and textually in Letters from Ausland by Louis Armand, The Vision of Error by John Kinsella (subtitled, ‘A Sextet of Activist Poems’) and marionette by jessica l. wilkinson (written here all in lower-case and subtitled, ‘a biography of miss marion davies’). All three poets are or have been editors of literary magazines: Armand edits VLAK, out of Prague; Kinsella, SALT; and Wilkinson, Rabbit (why does this name always remind me of Wittgenstein’s drawing of a rabbit that can also be perceived as a duck?) Armand and Kinsella have also collaborated on a number of books.' (Author's introduction) -
Inkblots and Different Fonts
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Journal , vol. 3 no. 2 2014; (p. 53-54)
— Review of Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry ; Rawshock 2012 selected work poetry -
Aspects of Australian Poetry in 2012
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 68-91)'T he act of reading for appraisal rather than pleasure is a privilege that brings me to a deepened understanding of the contemporary in Australian poetry, the way the past is being framed, its traditions, celebrities and enigmas washed up in new and hybrid appearances or redressed in more conventional, sometimes nimbus forms. Judith Wright wrote that the ‘place to find clues is not in the present, it lies in the past: a shallow past, as all immigrants to Australia know, and all of us are immigrants.’ The discipline of reading to filter such a range of voices underlines my foreignness, making reading akin to translation, whilst reciprocally inviting the reader of this essay to become a foreigner to my assumptions and conclusions.' (Introduction)
-
Best of 2012 : The Top 10 Poetic Works
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , December 2012;
— Review of The Jaguar's Dream : Translations, Adaptations, Versions, Extrapolations, Interpolations, Afters, Takes and Departures 2012 selected work poetry ; Ash Is Here, So are Stars 2012 selected work poetry ; The Family Idiot 2012 selected work poetry ; Autoethnographic 2012 selected work poetry ; 2012 and Other Poems 2012 selected work poetry ; Water Mirrors 2012 selected work poetry ; Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel ; Mogwie-Idan : Stories of the Land 2012 selected work poetry ; Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry
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Poetry Two New Long Poems
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , June 2012;
— Review of Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry ; Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel -
Best of 2012 : The Top 10 Poetic Works
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , December 2012;
— Review of The Jaguar's Dream : Translations, Adaptations, Versions, Extrapolations, Interpolations, Afters, Takes and Departures 2012 selected work poetry ; Ash Is Here, So are Stars 2012 selected work poetry ; The Family Idiot 2012 selected work poetry ; Autoethnographic 2012 selected work poetry ; 2012 and Other Poems 2012 selected work poetry ; Water Mirrors 2012 selected work poetry ; Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel ; Mogwie-Idan : Stories of the Land 2012 selected work poetry ; Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry -
Inkblots and Different Fonts
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Journal , vol. 3 no. 2 2014; (p. 53-54)
— Review of Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry ; Rawshock 2012 selected work poetry -
Words Take Shape on the Printed Page
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 June 2014; (p. 7)
— Review of Australian Poetry Journal vol. 3 no. 2 2014 periodical issue ; Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry -
Aspects of Australian Poetry in 2012
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 68-91)'T he act of reading for appraisal rather than pleasure is a privilege that brings me to a deepened understanding of the contemporary in Australian poetry, the way the past is being framed, its traditions, celebrities and enigmas washed up in new and hybrid appearances or redressed in more conventional, sometimes nimbus forms. Judith Wright wrote that the ‘place to find clues is not in the present, it lies in the past: a shallow past, as all immigrants to Australia know, and all of us are immigrants.’ The discipline of reading to filter such a range of voices underlines my foreignness, making reading akin to translation, whilst reciprocally inviting the reader of this essay to become a foreigner to my assumptions and conclusions.' (Introduction)
-
X Marks the Parataxis : Louis Armand, John Kinsella and Jessica L. Wilkinson
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May no. 46.0 2014; 'Displacement is apparent both geographically and textually in Letters from Ausland by Louis Armand, The Vision of Error by John Kinsella (subtitled, ‘A Sextet of Activist Poems’) and marionette by jessica l. wilkinson (written here all in lower-case and subtitled, ‘a biography of miss marion davies’). All three poets are or have been editors of literary magazines: Armand edits VLAK, out of Prague; Kinsella, SALT; and Wilkinson, Rabbit (why does this name always remind me of Wittgenstein’s drawing of a rabbit that can also be perceived as a duck?) Armand and Kinsella have also collaborated on a number of books.' (Author's introduction)