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Australian Literature

A Review of Tim Winton's Dirt Music
Dirt Music is a big sprawling novel about the ancient Australian land, about loss, life, death, and redemption, about change and stagnation, but above all about love, and its power to change people.
Confessions of a Survivor: A Review of Poems by Lily Brett
Poems by Lily Brett includes two recently published collections, In Her Strapless Dresses, published in 1994, and Mud in My Tears, published in 1997. As with Brett’s fiction, both of the poetry books concentrate on the Holocaust, both Brett’s own experiences of fascination and obsession – the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and her parent’s firsthand experiences. There are also poems about love, death, parenting, growing up, vanity, and pain.
Interview with Karen Sedaitis, October 2001
The author of Soul Dark Soil talks about her book, the process of writing, the benefits of being published by a small press, on inner life, on the dangers of writing about subjects close to home, literary heroes, and her next book.
Humus-rich Food for the Soul: Karen Sedaitis' Soul Dark Soil
Sedaitis' work gets under the reader's skin; goes deeper than the details of her stories, and even when she is describing something ugly, like dismemberment, rot, abduction, physical, or emotional destruction, there is a kind of detached beauty in the writing, coming from something more eternal than the pain.
A Review of Imago Literary Journal
While individually the current issue of Imago contains specific pieces which work less well than others, as a whole, Imago provides an enjoyable reading experience, mixing a range of genres and providing a good snapshot of the broad and well varied literary life of modern Australia. The balance is good, and the level of information provided is extensive enough for a reader to get a reasonable feel for what they are looking at. The A5 size of the journal is also good, making it small enough to fit in a handbag.
Lifting off: A Review of Helen Garner's The Feel of Steel
Mastering a new sport, a musical instrument, having a grandchild, going through a divorce, or even taking a big trip, are all common scenarios in most people’s lives. These are ordinary moments, and that is why they are so wonderful. Garner takes the everyday trivial bits of our lives, and with her gifts, turns them into something spiritual, mystical, and powerful.
The Space between Memory and Hope: Robin Loftus' Backyard Cosmos
Robin Loftus' new collection of poetry Backyard Cosmos is a small collection, almost more of a pamphlet than a book, containing 50 pieces including a few haiku, but the work has that transformative quality which Ellmann refers to. Some of the poems are light, delicate, taking on subject matter like nature and the seasons, and others are rich, heavy, dealing with motherhood, love, death, grief and the ultimate subject of poetry; what it means to be a human being.
Interview with Elizabeth Jolley
Elizabeth Jolley talks about her reader, changes in writing over the years, on innocence, themes, and labelling, and characters in her latest novel, An Innocent Gentleman.
Is this Nothing: Elizabeth Jolley's An Innocent Gentleman
As a comedy of manners, An Innocent Gentleman makes for a mildly humorous, and easy to read novel; a brief play which is a kind of light farce. As a commentary on the sterility of English mannered life, and as a serious work exploring issues of innocence and guilt, love and pain, and how we make meaning in our lives, the book is difficult, and disturbing, leaving the reader confused, as humour and the lightness of tone mingle with the emptiness of the characters lives, and the mingling of pettiness, desire and depravity.
Interview with Simone Lazaroo
Simone Lazaroo talks about the making of The Australian Fiance, her unique narrative style, the big themes, Australian literature, photography, poetry, and her next work.
Zero decibels Quiet: Simone Lazaroo's The Australian Fiance
The Australian Fiance is a deeply moving novel. Not so much because of its story, which has moments of intensity, but is primarily, a simple story of love and loss. Rather, it is the exquisite language, the poetic transcendence affected by Lazaroo’s narrative which draws the reader into the character of the Eurasian woman, submerged with her, until we are also nameless, nationless, simultaneously guilty and innocent, soft and hard, lost and found.
Interview with Joan London: Author of Gilgamesh, 1 August, 2001
Joan London talks about the making of her novel Gilgamesh, Australia during the depression, novels versus short stories, and her Gilgamesh characters.
Heroic Quest: Joan London's Gilgamesh
Joan London has won a number of prizes, for her previous two short story collections, including the coveted Age Book of the Year for Sister Ship. The anticipation for this, her first full length novel, was great. Gilgamesh fully lives up to the expectations surrounding its release. London’s writing quality is delicate and rich, combining a strong clear, easy to read linear narrative, with descriptive introspection.
Interview with Gail Bell, 24 June, 2001
Gail Bell talks about the making of The Poison Principle, the book's narrative style, voice, and themes, the Varuna Writing Centre, poison, on the need to work, and her next book.
Circe's Vile Pinch: Gail Bell's The Poison Principle
Gail Bell takes the facts of this story about her grandfather, handed down through family folklore, hunted down obsessively in testimonials, newspaper clippings, bits of journals, and scattered artefacts, and turns it into a literary examination of the narrative of poisoning; a Barthian thesis on what the nature of poisoning from a mythical, historical, and fictional perspective reveals about humanity.
Interview with Hilary McPhee, 1 June 2001
The author of Other People's Words talks about being an author, the publishing industry, the McPhee Gribble story, the Australian voice, e-books, and her latest project.
Those Slippery Things: Hilary McPhee's Other People's Words
McPhee Gribble was a powerful voice in Australian publishing in the 70s and 80s, and their unique style of working, the partnerships with their authors, the intimacy, as well as the pitfalls they encountered, make for fascinating reader for anyone interested in books.
An expanding stillness: David Malouf's Dream Stuff
A missing father, a missing uncle, a missing place. David Malouf’s latest book of short stories, Dream Stuff is about longing and nostalgia. A desire to reach across the bridge of time, back to some place which may have never existed, except in our dreams and the self-created impressions of the moments we have lived, which are already gone.
Interview with Philomena Van Rijswijk, 24 April, 2001
Philomena Van Rijswijk talks about living in Tasmania, the importance of Antarctica, the research involved in writing The World as a Clockface, major themes, her writer's retreat at Varuna, and lots more.
Towards Zero: Philomena Van Rijswijk's The World As a Clockface
Following in the footsteps of the early Carey, Borges, Marquez, de Bernieres, and Fowles, Van Rijswijk uses her knowledge of the sea, and her antipodean base of Tasmania, to create a unique voice, taking the reader on a descriptive journey from the mythical antipodean island state of Esmania, past a small island to the east called Aotearoa, Antartica, Tierra del Feugo, Paraguay, the Cape of Africa, and back to the Antipodean mainland Incognita.
My Interview with Max Sollitt
The author of The Correspondence Course talks about the origins of his novel, finding a publisher, the changes to writing mores and processes over the years, his upcoming memoirs, and more.
Making of the Novel: Max Sollitt's The Correspondence Course
How do we define good writing? Are there clear boundaries between writing genres, fact and fiction, history and theory, writing and criticism? These are some of the questions raised by Max Sollitt's first novel The Correspondence Course, which defies its own definition of 'novel'.
Pleasing Fractals: Sue Gough's The Nether Regions
The Nether Regions is a marvellous novel, coupling linguistic beauty with humour, psychological fascination and intensity.
The Articulation of Silence: Grenville's The Idea of Perfection
In the tentative groping of the characters for meaning, the articulation of silence, Grenville creates a story which is a pleasure to read
Light Relief: Lily Brett's New York
Lily Brett's New York is a lighthearted, easy to read book which looks at life in New York from the perspective of an Australian who has been living in Manhatten for over ten years.
Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Tom Keneally's Bettany's Book
A review of Thomas Keneally's new novel Bettany's Book
Hero of the Word: Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang
A review of Peter Carey's latest novel

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