Cirrus@Austlit

'I have had the pleasure of living with Antigone Kefala's words fro many years now, particularly so over the last decade through my doctoral research, The Shadow of the Muse, where I focus on first-, second- and third-generation Greek-Australian women's writing.' (Introduction)

'Meeting Antigone Kefala back in 1980 was like a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere of cultural confusion in which I was living at the time. Although I had been in Australia for 10 years then, I was still struggling to adjust to the new way of life. Looking back to the 1970s, I can now say that my early years as a migrant can be summarised as a struggle for cultural identity in an environment of conflicting values. It all amounted to living in a cultural void which offered neither a sense of belonging nor a sense of direction.' (Introduction)

'I have been reading and re-reading Antigone Kefala's prose and poetry throughout the past decades, ever since I discovered her work in the 1990s and decided to write part of my PhD thesis on her writing. I have been following the development of her themes, which I might call 'obsessions', without giving to the word any neurotic meaning. After all, aren't all writers who write out of necessity and not out of fashion, aren't all artists somehow 'obsessed'?' (Introduction)

'Christos Tsiolkas's essay on Patrick White is a study in one writer's love for another and a mediation on the erotics of reading and writing.' (Introduction)