Good afternoon. I'm Hilary Harper. I present the Saturday morning program on 774 ABC Melbourne,

and I'm very, very pleased to be welcoming you here today. We'd like to acknowledge the support of the Heartline Subfund of Australian Communities for today's session.

And just a reminder to turn your phones off or onto silent. We don't have to do any more public flayings. They're very messy.

Jacqueline Rose's writing has been described as agile, as meditative, as supple. And that's

certainly her approach to her subject matter as well. She's written on topics as diverse as Peter Pan,

Sylvia Plath, constructions of childhood and fantasy, and Freud and Le Cairn, and of course, the two iconic figures that you've come to hear her explore today, Marilyn Monroe and Rosa Luxembourg, not often linked in the public mind.

When I picked up the Jacqueline Rose reader, I thought, I'll just read a few pieces that seem most relevant to this talk, but I found I was unable to limit myself.

It was a bit like chocolate. I just had to put just one more.

They were all fascinating for their refusal to let meaning be fixed unquestioningly.

She is a fellow of the British Academy.

She is a professor of English at Queen Mary University of London

and a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

Please welcome Jacqueline Rose.

Thank you all for coming.

Can you hear me?

Okay, I'm delighted to be here.

I'm delighted to be at the Melbourne Literary Writers' Festival on my way in.

Bettina, I don't know if you're here, Bettina, but Bettina, the teacher who drove me from the airport said

Melbourne is not a typical Australian city. She said for two main reasons. One, and she pointed the deciduous trees, which means Europe was here, right? And the

other thing is the Melbourne Writers' Festival. So I'm very thrilled to be part of one of the

things that distinguishes Melbourne in this way, and it's my first visit to this country,

and I'm very moved by that.

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