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'From vanishing islands to talking flathead and nightmarish bushfires, Ben Walterâs visionary Tasmanian fictions are unique in the landscape of Australian writing. An unemployed man chooses only to apply for jobs advertised in The Economist; a failed mountain expedition is mocked by the dead bodies of past climbers; and a father and son travel urgently to witness the miracle of Lake Pedder emptying. In What Fear Was, Walter combines beautiful, mesmerising writing with surreal discomfort and absurdist hilarity to completely upend the idea of an Australian short story.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Sunken Geographies, Unearthed Geologies
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , December vol. 81 no. 4 2022; (p. 233-236) Meanjin Online 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story -
Best of 2022 : Part Two
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 17 December - 6 January 2022;
— Review of A History of Dreams 2022 single work novel ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; Moon Sugar : A Novel 2022 single work novel ; Waypoints 2022 single work novel ; Every Version of You 2022 single work novel -
Have Fun
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; If You're Happy 2022 selected work short story'I am looking for something to say about the short story as a category, something to distinguish it, and my mind alights on the word ‘fun’. Is it possible, I wonder, that the short story permits the author to play, to have fun, in a way that other forms do not? Do we tend to ignore this because the word ‘fun’ is difficult to fit into an aesthetic claim, because the concept itself seems to resist being aestheticised, its monosyllabic punchiness evoking childish play or adult condescension that dodges the analytical eye? It was just a bit of fun. Don’t you know how to have fun? This isn’t fun.' (Introduction)
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Strange and Unfamiliar Terrain : Three Bold New Short Story Collections
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 444 2022; (p. 41-42)
— Review of The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life 2022 selected work short story 'In the wake of other recent compelling débuts – Paige Clark’s meticulously crafted and imagined She is Haunted being a standout – three new short story collections, varying markedly in tone, style, and setting, offer bold and unsettling visions of twenty-first-century life.'(Introduction)
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The Shape of Un-Australian Fiction : Ben Walter’s What Fear Was
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , March 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story'We have learned, thank you Bertolt, that there will still be singing in the dark times. Singing such as Ben Walter’s What Fear Was, constructed within and about the metastasising climate catastrophe. It is a short story collection of particularity—most obviously about a place, Tasmania, but also about a time, the howling now.' (Introduction)
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Ben Walter What Fear Was
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 12-18 March 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story'The “Tasmanian Gothic” may have been identified back in 1989, but it seems there’s still something haunting Tasmanian fiction. From Richard Flanagan and Carmel Bird to Danielle Wood and Robbie Arnott, Tasmanian writers continually demonstrate a bent for the fantastic. What Fear Was, a debut collection of short stories by Ben Walter, ostentatiously leans towards the uncanny.' (Introduction)
-
The Shape of Un-Australian Fiction : Ben Walter’s What Fear Was
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , March 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story'We have learned, thank you Bertolt, that there will still be singing in the dark times. Singing such as Ben Walter’s What Fear Was, constructed within and about the metastasising climate catastrophe. It is a short story collection of particularity—most obviously about a place, Tasmania, but also about a time, the howling now.' (Introduction)
-
Strange and Unfamiliar Terrain : Three Bold New Short Story Collections
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 444 2022; (p. 41-42)
— Review of The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life 2022 selected work short story 'In the wake of other recent compelling débuts – Paige Clark’s meticulously crafted and imagined She is Haunted being a standout – three new short story collections, varying markedly in tone, style, and setting, offer bold and unsettling visions of twenty-first-century life.'(Introduction)
-
Have Fun
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; If You're Happy 2022 selected work short story'I am looking for something to say about the short story as a category, something to distinguish it, and my mind alights on the word ‘fun’. Is it possible, I wonder, that the short story permits the author to play, to have fun, in a way that other forms do not? Do we tend to ignore this because the word ‘fun’ is difficult to fit into an aesthetic claim, because the concept itself seems to resist being aestheticised, its monosyllabic punchiness evoking childish play or adult condescension that dodges the analytical eye? It was just a bit of fun. Don’t you know how to have fun? This isn’t fun.' (Introduction)
-
Best of 2022 : Part Two
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 17 December - 6 January 2022;
— Review of A History of Dreams 2022 single work novel ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; Moon Sugar : A Novel 2022 single work novel ; Waypoints 2022 single work novel ; Every Version of You 2022 single work novel