"Princess Mona": A Romantic Poetical Drama.; Three Illustrations by D. H. Souter
Sydney and Brisbane: William Brooks & Co. Ltd., 1916. D. H. Souter. First Edition. Hardcover. Crown octavo : 65pp. : original blue boards, three full-page black and white illustrations : inscribed and signed by the author. Lyceum Club Brisbane stamp to f.f.e.p. and title. Very Good. Item #15776
[British Empire] [Terra Nullius] [Opera] [Women Writers] Born in England, Coungeau (1860-1936) migrated to Australia in 1887. The Australian Dictionary of Biography records that: From 1913 Emily published poems in the Brisbane Courier, the Sydney Bulletin and the Australian Woman's Mirror, and produced four books of verse: Stella Australis (Brisbane, 1914), Rustling Leaves (Sydney, 1920), Palm Fronds (Brisbane, 1927) and Fern Leaves (Brisbane, 1934). Her 'romantic poetical drama' Princess Mona (Sydney, 1916), a fantasy of the birth and development of Australia, became the libretto for an opera entitled Auster, with a score by Alfred Hill. Described by Thorold Waters as 'more promising for the development of a real Australian opera than anything that has yet been done', Auster was performed in a concert version in Sydney in 1922, and staged in Melbourne in 1935. Coungeau saw herself as a public poet whose role was to uphold the values of the British Empire and contribute to 'Australia's national hymn of progress' through celebrating the arrival of Celtic and Saxon kin in an empty land. Her best work exemplified the emergence of a female, cosmopolitan aesthetic in Australian writing.
Price: $145.00