AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Welcome to ABR’s summer-sized first issue of the year. Diaries and letters abound, with Lisa Gorton delving into the final instalment of Helen Garner’s published journals, and Brenda Niall reflecting on Martyn Lyon’s epistolary collection of letters sent to Robert Menzies during his prime ministership. In poetry, ABR is delighted to publish the stunning poems shortlisted for the 2022 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, as well as reviews of new collections by Tracy K. Smith, A. Frances Johnson, and David Musgrave. Elsewhere, in historical musings, Mark McKenna looks at Doug Munro’s chronicle of the scandalous stand-off between publisher Peter Ryan and historian Manning Clark. And in fiction we have reviews of new works by John le Carré, Louise Erdrich, Hannah Kent, and Wole Soyinka. Plus much more!' (Publication summary)
Contents
- Vale Stuart Macintyre, single work obituary (p. 7)
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The Love Problem : Helen Garner and the Fissures between Fact and Fiction,
single work
review
— Review of How to End a Story : Diaries 1995–1998 2021 single work diary ;(p. 8, 10-11)'The first two volumes of Helen Garner’s diaries – Yellow Notebook (2019) and One Day I’ll Remember This (2020) – cover eight years apiece. This one covers three. It is an intense, even claustrophobic story of the breakup of a marriage – a story told in the incidental, fragmentary form of a diary.' (Introduction) -
‘In God’s Vineyard’ : Writing to a Prime Minister,
single work
review
— Review of Dear Prime Minister : Letters to Robert Menzies, 1949-1966 2021 selected work correspondence ;(p. 12-13)'Letter writing thrives on distance. Out of necessity, in the early years of European settlement, Australia became a nation of letter writers. The remoteness of the island continent gave the letter a special importance. Even those unused to writing had so much to say, and such a strong need to hear from home, that the laborious business of pen and ink and the struggles with spelling were overcome. Early letters reflected the homesickness of settlers as well as their sense of achievement and their need to hold on to a former life. It’s possible to see the emergence of a democratic tradition of letter writing in those needful times. Rich or poor, well educated or semi-literate, they all felt the urge to connect.' (Introduction)
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A Tidy Little Earner : Peter Ryan Meets His Match,
single work
review
— Review of History Wars : The Peter Ryan–Manning Clark Controversy 2021 multi chapter work criticism ;(p. 13-14)'It was one of the most notorious episodes in the annals of Australian publishing. In September 1993, writing in Quadrant, Peter Ryan, the former director of Melbourne University Press (1962–87), publicly disowned Manning Clark’s six-volume A History of Australia. Clark had been dead for barely sixteen months. For scandalous copy and gossip-laden controversy, there was nothing to equal it, particularly when Ryan’s bombshell was dropped into a culture that was already polarised after more than a decade of the History Wars.' (Introduction)
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On the Home Front : Picto-critical Eyes on the Vietnam War,
single work
review
— Review of Underground : Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia's War in Vietnam 2021 single work graphic novel ;(p. 24-25)'Editorial cartoonists gamble their all on a same-day art, their work created, read, and discarded on the day of publication. The makers of graphic novel journalism use the language of cartooning, too, but in their case it’s a marathon, not a sprint: they spend years arranging thousands of images and tens of thousands of words across hundreds of pages in order to create their books. Two new graphic novels cast a picto-critical eye on the war in Vietnam and show how it came home to roost, bringing death and imprisonment to suburban streets in Australia and the United States.'(Introduction)
- Hummingbird Countryi"My aunt says, never trust a hummingbird. Never trust", single work poetry (p. 26)
- Australianesquei"Peter Porter wrote a sonnet sequence about Christopher Brennan", single work poetry (p. 27)
- In the Shadows of Our Headsi"I’d called the Humane Society to report the neglect", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Gippslanding (triptych)i"lumpen-proling an outer", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Sixes and Sparrowsi"it begins with three libraries, three swamps. one that cut bright segments", single work poetry (p. 30-31)
- Open Page with Anna Clark, single work interview (p. 34)
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Secrets and Broken Hearts : Three New Novels of Friendship,
single work
review
— Review of The Golden Book 2021 single work novel ; The Beautiful Words 2021 single work novel ; The Wingmaker 2021 single work novel ; (p. 37-38) -
Some Things Remain : The Weighty Impress of the Past in Hannah Kent’s Latest Novel,
single work
review
— Review of Devotion 2021 single work novel ; (p. 41) -
Untimely Theatrics : A New Study of Patrick White's Drama,
single work
review
— Review of Patrick White's Theatre : Australian Modernism on Stage, 1960-2018 2021 multi chapter work criticism ; (p. 42-43) -
Stasis Anxiety : Two Poets Address the Impasses of the Present,
single work
review
— Review of Endings and Spacings 2021 selected work poetry ; Accelerations and Inertias 2021 selected work poetry ; (p. 44-45) -
Infinite Coastlines : A Substantial and Enjoyable Poet,
single work
review
— Review of Selected Poems 2021 selected work poetry ;(p. 47)'It is disconcerting how the author of seven poetry collections can ambush the normally attentive reader of Australian poetry with such a forceful body of work as David Musgrave’s Selected Poems, which runs to more than two hundred pages. Musgrave’s individual collections have appeared with various publishers over the years since To Thalia back in 2004, but insufficient attention has been paid to them.'(Introduction)
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Colonial Haunts : A Poet’s Dark Self-effacement,
single work
review
— Review of Save As 2021 selected work poetry ; (p. 48) - Critic of the Month with Don Anderson, single work interview (p. 50)
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The Politics of Partying : Chronicles of Queer Theatricality,
single work
review
— Review of Buried Not Dead 2021 selected work essay ;(p. 51-52)'‘Wasn’t sexual expression a principal motivation of gay and queer dancefloors … Isn’t that the freedom we were fighting for? To be kinky dirty fuckers, without shame; to not sanitise ourselves in the bid for equality?’ So exhorts DJ Lanny K in 2013, reflecting on his time spinning discs at down-and-out pubs in ungentrified Surry Hills in the mid-1990s as part of Sydney’s fomenting queer subculture. Lanny K, Sydney-based Canadian immigrant, is one of a handful of artists – performance artists, dancers, even a tattooist – interviewed by Fiona McGregor in her collection of essays Buried Not Dead. Mostly written between 2013 and 2020, each essay is based on a rolling interview with an artist and draws out their recollections of early practices and careers, several united by reference to a specific time and place – Sydney’s emergent gay scene in the mid-1990s.' (Introduction)
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Campese’s Goosestep : The Paul Keating of Australian Rugby,
single work
review
— Review of Campese : The Last of the Dream Sellers 2021 single work biography ; (p. 59)
