Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 'An Elephant Is Not Logical' Moments of Muted Transcendence
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'Mark Tredinnick’s latest collection of poetry, Walking Underwater, continues his exploration of the relationship between individual experience and the natural world that was visible in volumes such as A Gathered Distance (2020), Blue Wren Cantos (2013), and Fire Diary (2010). Tredinnick is well known for his writing of place, notably his innovative local history-cum-memoir The Blue Plateau (2009), a book that traces the lives, histories, and natural systems of the Blue Mountains, where he lives. His writing in both poetry and prose is noticeably belletristic, and his stance broadly romantic. This occasionally droops into piety, but Tredinnick also conjures moments of muted and moving transcendence: ‘A balcony and a morning and a lassitude / Of fog. A sky blindfolded and bound and flogged; a night-time’s / Pleasure only halfway spent. Awake early, I hear a band / Of correllas come. Chaste bandits, their flight a quiet riot, a lewd and holy throng / Of unhinged song.’'(Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 450 January - February 2023 25614743 2023 periodical issue

    'Welcome to the summer issue of ABR – the 450th in the second series, which began in 1978. It’s a blockbuster of an issue, commencing with a powerful account by author-journalist Zoe Holman about the current agitation in Iran following the murder of Mahsa Amini. Political scientist Timothy J. Lynch (writing from Laramie in Wyoming!) examines the recent US midterms and America’s seeming return to the centre. Turning to Australian politics, we have key articles by Mark Kenny, Dennis Altman, Frank Bongiorno, and Kim Rubenstein. We are also delighted to reveal the 2023 Peter Porter Poetry Prize shortlist. Shannon Burns reviews Cormac McCarthy’s brace of new novels, and Penny Russell critiques Alex Miller’s thirteenth novel. In our arts section, seventeen ABR regulars nominate their Arts Highlights of 2022 – to complement our highly popular Books of the Year feature (published in the December issue).' (Publication summary)

     

    2023
    pg. 46
Last amended 6 Jan 2023 07:35:03
46 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2023/january-february-2023-no-450/986-january-february-2023-no-450/10000-tony-hughes-d-aeth-reviews-walking-underwater-by-mark-tredinnick 'An Elephant Is Not Logical' Moments of Muted Transcendencesmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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