AustLit

'In trying to pin down the inspiration for where a poem might come from, the late Dorothy Porter (to whom this book is dedicated) once related the story that one of her students, a murderer in Long Bay gaol, suggested that a novel could be told in haiku. This lead her, apparently, to the germ of an idea – a crime novel told in verse, which became The Monkey’s Mask. Aesthetic ideas can come from the most unlikely sources, even Long Bay gaol. Anne Carson has used this notion as the catalyst for an exploration into famous fictional detectives told in verse, or more specifically, prose poetry.'(Introduction)