A Venerable Wordsmith : Taking a Punt on Les Carlyon single work   review  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 A Venerable Wordsmith : Taking a Punt on Les Carlyon
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'I guess every reviewer comes to a book with expectations, especially when the author’s reputation precedes him or her. On opening this collection, I knew that Les Carlyon (who died in 2019) wrote well. I remember my parents reading him in The Age and murmuring approval of his lyrical style and, sometimes, the content. I knew he loved horses, the track, and the punt. To me these were disappointments to overlook: I have hated horse racing since I was a kid driving around with my grandfather in his Datsun, windows up and the races on. My grandfather never wound down the windows, presumably so he could hear the call: perhaps it was the lack of fresh air that poisoned me against the sport. And I knew that Carlyon had written huge tomes on war and the Australian experience: Gallipoli (2001) and The Great War (2006) won acclaim, sold well, and left some military historians with reservations about his scholarship. My expectations, mostly, were realised. I sped through A Life in Words, encountering witty and whimsical delights along the way.' (Introduction)

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    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 438 December 2021 23560126 2021 periodical issue

    'The December issue has arrived and rounds out the year in customary style: a stockingful of reviews, essays, interviews, and our annual ‘Books of the Year’ feature, in which thirty-eight ABR critics highlight their year’s most memorable reads. Paul Muldoon reviews Bruno Latour’s eco-philosophical fable, After Lockdown. While Latour takes inspiration from the termite, Krissy Kneen considers the ways of the dugong in her Calibre Prize-shortlisted essay, a poignant exploration of identity, bodies, and death. In politics, Morag Fraser reviews Judith Brett’s collection of essays and Frank Bongiorno reflects on Noel Pearson’s life in the public eye. The issue looks at fiction by Simone de Beauvoir, the Booker-shortlisted Anuk Arudpragasam, Garry Disher, and Inga Simpson. The literary careers of Gillian Mears and Gerald Murnane are retraced by Brenda Walker and Peter Craven, respectively. Traipsing from Dante’s inferno to China to Western Sydney, the December issue will keep even the most intellectually gluttonous reader sated through the festive season.'   (Publication summary)

         2021     pg. 30
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Last amended 7 Dec 2021 09:43:31
30 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2021/december-2021-no-438/972-december-2021-no-438/8526-seumas-spark-reviews-a-life-in-words-collected-writings-from-gallipoli-to-the-melbourne-cup-by-les-carlyon A Venerable Wordsmith : Taking a Punt on Les Carlyonsmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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