Audiobook · read by volunteers
Glugs of Gosh
C. J. Dennis (1876–1938)
Read by Chris Goringe · 6 chapters · 1 h 26
About the book
The Glugs live in the land of Gosh, and they are a very peculiar people. They admire their kings, bow to the self-important, believe whatever the crowd believes and follow tradition simply because it is tradition. In a bouncing, rollicking verse, C. J. Dennis holds up a mirror to a society very like his own, and the mirror is anything but kind. The Glugs of Gosh was first published in 1917 as a satire of Australian life, yet its targets, the vain, the pompous, the gullible and the self-righteous, are still easy to recognise today. Six parts and about an hour and a half, read by one volunteer, make this a lively, funny and surprisingly sharp listen. If you like your social comment in rhyme and your humour with some bite, you will enjoy a visit to Gosh.
Introduction
Clarence Michael James Dennis, known as C. J. Dennis, lived from 1876 to 1938 and is remembered as one of Australia’s most popular poets. He wrote in the idiom of ordinary speech, and his verse novel The Sentimental Bloke made him a household name in his own country. The Glugs of Gosh, first published in 1917, is a satire in verse, a lighter and more fanciful work that nevertheless has a real edge.
Its subject is the foolishness of a society, which Dennis portrays through the imaginary Glugs, inhabitants of a land called Gosh. He pokes fun at the folly of kings, the arrogance of the elite, the gullibility of crowds, the pride of the self-righteous and the unthinking following of tradition. Though the book is aimed at Australian life at the start of the twentieth century, the absurdities it catalogues seem just as prevalent in later times. Its tone is playful and its rhymes lively, which gives the criticism a good-humoured surface.
The LibriVox recording is divided into six parts, each covering two or three of the poem’s chapters, and lasts about an hour and a half and is read by one volunteer, Chris Goringe, who brings plenty of energy to the verses.
It is a pleasure for anyone who enjoys comic poetry, satire, or a glimpse of Australian literature beyond the usual bush ballads. Verse satire is a rare pleasure in audio form, and the bouncing metre of Dennis makes the whole text surprisingly easy to follow, even when the allusions are those of a distant time and place.
Public domain
C. J. Dennis died in 1938: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text