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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The Sunlit Zone is a moving elegy of love and loss, admirable for its narrative sweep and the family dynamic that drives it. A risk-taking work of rare, imaginative power.' (publisher's website)
Notes
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Novel in verse form.
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Epigraph:
a shallow but complex layer of ocean in which vegetation
flourishes most prolifically, and which the deep sea
diver must keep in her sights
if she is to return to it -
Dedication: for my parents.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Trouble with Poetry and Literary Awards
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2020;'Australia has a strong history of poetry, albeit largely white and male. Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon, CJ Dennis, AD Hope and Dorothea Mackellar are all notable figures in Australia’s colonial history and literature. Why is it, then, that poetry collections are largely ignored by our major literary prizes?' (Introduction)
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Fluid Worlds : Reflecting Climate Change in The Swan Book and The Sunlit Zone
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 74 no. 1 2014; (p. 142-163) -
Apocalyse Vs Utopia : A Writers Guide
2014
single work
essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 74 no. 1 2014; (p. 90-102) -
‘Country’ in Australian Contemporary Verse Novels
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'Research is yet to describe the stylistic preferences that shape contemporary Australian verse novels which provide political and social critique. This article examines Lisa Jacobson’s The Sunlit Zone (2011), Judy Johnson’s Jack (2006), and Geoff Page’s Freehold (2005), texts which share a stylistic preference for representations of speech and thought that are closer to ‘naturally’ occurring oral communication, and which maximise use of vernacular, regional idiom, and colloquial diction. A close reading of these texts identifies the expressivity markers by which they depict attitudes, beliefs, and values pertaining to ‘country’, with particular focus on analysing the interplay of poetic and narrative elements that is instrumental to foreground the ‘natural’, and to correlate their narratives with mimetic, real-world representation.' (Publication abstract) -
Words at the Heart of All
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 18 January 2014; (p. 25)
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Untitled
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July-August no. 343 2012; (p. 26)
— Review of The Sunlit Zone 2012 single work novel -
Verse Novels Navigate Zones of Longing and Belonging
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 22-23 September 2012; (p. 22-23)
— Review of All the Way Home : A Story Told in Poems 2012 single work novel ; The Sunlit Zone 2012 single work novel -
Collusion; The Sunlit Zone
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 72 no. 2 2012; (p. 185-191)
— Review of Collusion 2012 selected work poetry ; The Sunlit Zone 2012 single work novel -
Jessica Wilkinson Reviews Lisa Jacobson
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , no. 41 2013;
— Review of The Sunlit Zone 2012 single work novel -
A Verse Novel Packed with Poignancy
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 17 no. 1 2013;
— Review of The Sunlit Zone 2012 single work novel -
y
The Sunlit Zone : A Verse Novel and Essays
Melbourne
:
2009
Z1865556
2009
single work
thesis
'The Sunlit Zone, the major project of my PhD thesis, is a verse novel about trauma and transformation. The work is concerned with the ways in which transformation might occur at the site of "the wound" and with how the journey of protagonist, North, shifts from a state of trauma into the sunlit zone that the novel's title suggests.
'This novel looks specifically at thresholds between loss, memory, hybridity and mourning. North's twin sister, Finn, is a hybrid creature who inclines always towards the sea. The Sunlit Zone is particularly concerned with loss on both a micro level (via the childhood trauma that tracks North into adulthood) and a macro level (via the impact of new technology on the 21st century).
'Set in Melbourne in 2040, the narrative moves between past and present in order to memorialise trauma and, in doing so, locate its redemption.'
'Writing/ the Wound consists of three essays, loosely linked, which explore the concerns of The Sunlit Zone in the light of theoretical critique. It aims to create a dialogue between essays and verse novel in order to examine the question: what is the relationship between trauma, transformation and writing? The first two essays critique novels ... [more]that influenced The Sunlit Zone. Hybrid Bodies: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake explores the trauma of new technology, drawing on Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection in Powers of Horror Broken Bodies: Tim Winton's Dirt Music looks at grief, spiritual transformation and road trauma, using Jacques Derrida's The Work Mourning. The third essay, "Concealed Bodies: Writing/ the Wound" incorporates memoir, photographs and critique. Drawing in particular on Roland Barthes' critique of photographs in Camera Lucida, it looks at how memory pierces the skin of The Sunlit Zone and contributes to its central concerns. ( http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/37379731)
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Stella Award Women Writers Line up for Prize
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 March 2013; (p. 34) -
Well-Versed Every Day
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 24 August 2013; (p. 30) -
Words at the Heart of All
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 18 January 2014; (p. 25) -
‘Country’ in Australian Contemporary Verse Novels
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'Research is yet to describe the stylistic preferences that shape contemporary Australian verse novels which provide political and social critique. This article examines Lisa Jacobson’s The Sunlit Zone (2011), Judy Johnson’s Jack (2006), and Geoff Page’s Freehold (2005), texts which share a stylistic preference for representations of speech and thought that are closer to ‘naturally’ occurring oral communication, and which maximise use of vernacular, regional idiom, and colloquial diction. A close reading of these texts identifies the expressivity markers by which they depict attitudes, beliefs, and values pertaining to ‘country’, with particular focus on analysing the interplay of poetic and narrative elements that is instrumental to foreground the ‘natural’, and to correlate their narratives with mimetic, real-world representation.' (Publication abstract)
Awards
- 2014 winner Festival Awards for Literature (SA) Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature South Australian Literary Awards — John Bray Award for Poetry
- 2013 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Poetry
- 2013 shortlisted The Stella Prize
- 2012 shortlisted Australian Centre Literary Awards — Wesley Michel Wright Prize in Poetry
- 2009 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- 2040