Ventriloquism single work   essay   review  
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Ventriloquism
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'Barbara Kingsolver, praising the skill required to write a memorable short story, described the form as entailing ‘the successful execution of large truths delivered in tight spaces’. Her description certainly applies to Jennifer Down’s wonderful début collection, Pulse Points. Using the typical strategies of suggestion, ambiguity, and inconclusiveness of those ‘tight spaces’, Down’s fourteen realist stories raise important questions about family, sexual relationships, and the role of place and social aspiration in the shaping of identity. While these are familiar subjects for literary fiction, Pulse Points is especially memorable for its range of characters and voices, and for its often haunting expression of the partial nature of knowledge generated by the short story form.' (Introduction)

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    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review ABR no. 394 September 2017 11676807 2017 periodical issue

    'For decades, centuries, millennia, homosexuals (here as elsewhere) have been insulted, blackmailed, beaten, incarcerated, and murdered. Even now, homophobia and violence towards homosexuals remain principal causes of suicide and despair in our society, especially among young males. In numerous countries, homosexual acts are illegal and punishable by death or imprisonment. Remember those two young men in Aceh – our neighbour and ally – who were flogged and reviled in public? Only a fool or a bigot would suggest that homosexuals have never had it so good.' (Editorial)

    2017
    pg. 13-14
Last amended 26 Sep 2017 14:01:44
13-14 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2017/september-2017-no-394/211-september-2017-no-394/4227-susan-midalia-reviews-pulse-points-by-jennifer-down Ventriloquismsmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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