y separately published work icon Australian Book Review periodical issue  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... no. 445 August 2022 of Australian Book Review est. 1961 Australian Book Review
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Contents

* Contents derived from the , 2022 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Vale Frank Moorhouse, single work obituary

'We tend not to panegyrise local writers and artists in this land, but the death of Frank Moorhouse on 26 June proved rather different, eliciting the sort of coverage normally reserved for sporting personalities and plutocrats.' (Introduction)

 (p. 1, 7)
Mandelbrot Seti"~ dots of colour points on a complex", Jennifer Harrison , single work poetry (p. 14)
Dreams of Communing : The Challenge of Gail Jones’s Fiction, Julieanne Lamond , single work review
— Review of Inner and Outer Worlds : Gail Jones' Fiction 2022 anthology criticism ;

'The novels of Gail Jones present a challenge to would-be critics. Jones being a formidable scholar in her own right, her eight novels to date pose sophisticated philosophical questions within their elegantly structured narratives. Her novels canvass aspects of human experience that are murky and complex: these are often forms of familial or romantic relationship shaped by loss, both personal and historical. The challenge for critics is that the novels are themselves thinking about the potential of fiction to do this kind of philosophical or ethical work. In this sense, Jones might seem to be one step ahead of the scholar who takes her work as their subject. Inner and Outer Worlds, a collection of essays edited by Anthony Uhlmann, steps up to this challenge.' (Introduction)

 (p. 19-20)
‘Ah Well, I Suppose’ : The Editorial Challenge of Such Is Life, Brigid Magner , single work review
— Review of The Life of Such is Life : A Cultural History of an Australian Classic Roger Osborne , 2022 multi chapter work criticism ;
'‘Such is life’ is a common phrase in Australian popular culture – it has even been tattooed on bodies – but Joseph Furphy’s novel of the same name, published in 1903, is often forgotten. Ned Kelly mythology suggests that he uttered this phrase just before being hanged in 1880, though some historians argue that what he actually said was, ‘Ah well, I suppose’. Long before Furphy (1843–1912) wrote his magnum opus, the stoic phrase was perhaps wrongly associated with a cult hero’s execution.' (Introduction)
 (p. 20-21)
Brooms and Cupboards : A Familial Portrait of the Melbourne Art World, Jane Sullivan , single work review
— Review of Bad Art Mother Edwina Preston , 2022 single work novel ;
'In 1961, Gwen Harwood submitted a sonnet to the Bulletin under the name of Walter Lehmann. Her poem, ‘Abelard to Eloisa’, held a shocking acrostic secret that many people considered very bad art. Nobody discovered the secret until after it was published. But despite her transgression, as Wikipedia puts it, ‘she found much greater acceptance’ – to the point that she is today considered one of Australia’s greatest poets.' 

(Introduction)

 (p. 24)
Reckless as a Rule : Robert Drewe’s Ambivalence Towards History, Michael Winkler , single work review
— Review of Nimblefoot Robert Drewe , 2022 single work novel ;
'The National Portrait Gallery owns a minuscule sepia studio photograph titled ‘Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian’. From this curious gumnut, Robert Drewe has created a sprawling multi-limbed eucalypt.' 

(Introduction)

 (p. 25-26)
Getting Sad or Getting Mad : Three New Novels Exploring Women’s Suffering, Georgia White , single work review
— Review of Blue Hour Sarah Schmidt , 2022 single work novel ; Bone Memories Sally Piper , 2022 single work novel ; Sunbathing : A Novel Isobel Beech , 2022 single work novel ; (p. 26-27)
Dog Park, Nina Cullen , single work short story (p. 28-30)
Nowhere Places : Welcome Contributions to Queer Fiction, Jay Daniel Thompson , single work review
— Review of Marlo Jay Carmichael , 2022 single work novel ; My Heart is a Little Wild Thing Nigel Featherstone , 2022 single work novel ;

'At first glance, neither Marlo nor My Heart Is a Little Wild Thing seemed particularly appealing. Both focus on queer men pining for love in a homophobic world. Both appeared to recycle what Jay Carmichael (Marlo’s author) calls ‘the tradition of tragedy in queer literature’. Digging deeper, we find that the novels offer nuanced and even uplifting perspectives on gay male experience over the decades. There are moments of adversity, but it’s the resilience and emotional strength of the protagonists – their ability to find pleasure in even dire situations – that make both books so compelling.' (Introduction)

 (p. 30-31)
Natural Wonder, Tracy Ellis , single work short story (p. 32-33)
The Face of the Deep : A Pilgrimage to the Border of Oblivion, Morgan Nunan , single work review
— Review of Basin Scott McCulloch , 2022 single work novel ;
'On the surface, Scott McCulloch’s début novel, Basin, takes place in a brutal and degenerated landscape; the edge of a former empire in a state of violent flux. Rebels, separatists, terrorists, paramilitary groups, and the remnants of imperial forces clash over borders and interzones in the wake of the ‘Collapse’, an undefined geopolitical and ecological disaster. Print and broadcast media warn of inter-ethnic conflict and Rebel advances. Bazaars, brothels, and a chain of Poseidon Hotels all operate amid industrial waste and military checkpoints, servicing the region’s fishermen, soldiers, smugglers, and drifters. There is a multiplicity of language and religion (Abrahamic denominations mingle with archaic, pagan beliefs). Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use are rife. The climate is oppressively humid.' 

(Introduction)

 (p. 34)
Raising the Hat : Alice Nelson’s Third Novel, Nicole Abadee , single work review
— Review of Faithless Alice Nelson , 2022 single work novel ;
'Faithless is the third novel by West Australian writer Alice Nelson. Her first, The Lost Sky (2008), saw her named Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist, and her second, The Children’s House (2018), attracted widespread critical acclaim. All three explore themes of trauma, displacement, memory, and love. Nelson, many of whose family migrated here from Europe, once pondered in a 2019 interview with Brenda Walker at the Centre for Stories whether writers write to ‘heal some kind of loss’ and whether for her ‘it began with that sense of loss of homeland, loss of culture and country that ran through my family’.' 

(Introduction)

 (p. 35)
Whale Fall, C. J. Garrow , single work short story (p. 36-38)
Loneliness in the Lazaret : Fiction That Is a Shade Too Careful, Penny Russell , single work review
— Review of The Coast Eleanor Limprecht , 2022 single work novel ;

'A child of nine is taken to Sydney for the first time to visit her mother, a patient at the Coast Hospital lazaret. Upon arrival, she learns that she, like her mother, has leprosy. Her fate is fixed from that day; she will live the remainder of her life in the lazaret. She takes the new name of ‘Alice’ to hide her former self, and the world closes in upon her. There will be no more school, no playing with her younger brothers and sisters, no friends of her own age, no prospect of romance, no hope of freedom.'(Introduction)

 (p. 39)
A Tribute to Frank Moorhouse, Catharine Lumby , single work obituary

'Frank Moorhouse, one of Australia’s most prolific and loved authors, essayists, and public intellectuals, died aged eighty-three on 26 June. Moorhouse left a legacy of eighteen fiction and non-fiction books, a series of screenplays, and countless essays. He was also a tireless activist on a range of fronts, including opposing censorship and promoting copyright law reform.'(Introduction) 

 (p. 42-43)
Justice and Identity : Jon Faine’s Compassionate Approach to Biography, Michael McGirr , single work review
— Review of Apollo and Thelma Jonathan Faine , 2022 single work biography ; (p. 44)
Ghosts, Ghosts Everywhere, Sarah Gory , single work essay (p. 45-48)
‘Might Be Long Long Time’ : A Mixed Anthology of Trans-Tasman Poetry, David Mason , single work review
— Review of The Language in My Tongue : An Anthology of Australian and New Zealand Poetry 2022 anthology poetry ;
'There’s an old Irish saying: ‘If you want praise, die. If you want blame, marry.’ I could add from personal experience, ‘If you really want blame, edit a poetry anthology.’ While poetry is relatively popular, it often seems that more people write it than read it. As a result, poets can be desperate for affirmation and recognition, managing their careers more jealously than investment bankers. What too often gets lost in all the log-rolling and back-scratching is the poetry. We turn to anthologies for help, hoping to find in small, palatable doses good poets we can choose to read in depth. We find anthologies representing nations or geographical regions, literary periods, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations, forms, categories like postmodernism, post-colonialism, eco-poetry, and themes like love or madness.' (Publication summary)
 (p. 51-52)
Heels on the Throat of Song : Exploring the Limits of Poetry’s Expressivity, Jennifer Harrison , single work review
— Review of Languish Marion Campbell , 2022 selected work poetry ; And to Ecstasy Marjon Mossammaparast , 2022 selected work poetry ; (p. 52-53)
Itchy Feet : New Poetry from Alison Flett and Hazel Smith, Chris Arnold , single work review
— Review of Where We Are Alison Flett , 2022 selected work poetry ; Ecliptical Hazel Smith , 2022 selected work poetry prose ;
'Hazel Smith’s ecliptical features an image of a Sieglinde Karl-Spence work of art, ‘Becoming’, a pair of ‘winged feet woven with allocasuarina needles’. It is a striking image, evocative of Mercury, with one foot resting on the other, as if the right foot’s instep is itchy. The idea of ‘itchy feet’ is something that ties ecliptical to Alison Flett’s Where We Are. Flett and Smith are both migrants to Australia; their poetry is sensitive to its site of writing, and to international and interpersonal connections.' (Introduction)
 (p. 54-55)
X