AustLit

We tend to look less to nonfiction to find exemplars of literary, even poetic, writing than we do to fiction, yet opening the first of John Edwards two volume work John Curtin's War it is immediately obvious that nonfiction can be equally a hallmark of that genre: it begins with a description of a photograph of Curtin and his first ministry taken in October 1941: in this photo he cannot hide the cast in his left eye by looking down or turning side-on to the camera... we know Curtin is in his good blue suit not only because it is the one he usually wears on formal occasions but also because he has only three, and this is neither the brown nor the blue with the white pencil stripe ... of his six ties he has chosen one that is plain and dark. With that masterly and engaging summary we, the readers, learn that Curtin was aware of the importance of image and we can see that the man had flaws and had developed stratagems to control them. And, when we read down the page Edwards tells us, accurately, that we cannot see what he is but we can see what he is not. No grandeur, no triumph. All words that go to the heart of the man. (Editorial introduction)