Robin Gerster Robin Gerster i(A4024 works by) (a.k.a. Robin Christopher Gerster)
Born: Established: 1953 ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Foundational Fiction : Roger McDonald's Contribution to Historical Fiction Robin Gerster , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 413 2019; (p. 45-46)
— Review of Postcolonial Heritage and Settler Well-Being : The Historical Fictions of Roger McDonald Christopher Lee , 2018 multi chapter work criticism 'Though he had already produced two volumes of poetry, Roger McDonald first came to popular attention with his spectacular début novel, 1915, published in 1979. A recreation of the Gallipoli Campaign from the points of view of two temperamentally different boyhood friends (thus anticipating Peter Weir’s movie Gallipoli, which appeared in 1981), 1915 stood out from the ruck of Australian World War I retrospective fiction. It still does. Meticulously researched, it provides a plausible historical reconstruction of a lost world, and an arresting account of the perils and stresses of life in the ‘whirlpool of venomous geography’ around Anzac Cove.' (Introduction)
1 Stresses Robin Gerster , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 410 2019; (p. 41)

'It’s virtually axiomatic: ‘war can fuck you up’. This pithy observation, made by a veteran in The War Artist, Simon Cleary’s new novel about the travails of an Australian soldier during and after a tour of Afghanistan, goes to the heart of what we now understand about the impact of battle and its psychological aftershocks.'  (Introduction)
1 On Re-reading Bean’s Official History Robin Gerster , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 76 no. 3 2017; (p. 166-176)

'For one Anzac, it was just another day at the office. Describing the Australian counterattack at Lone Pine on Gallipoli in the second volume of his colossal Official History of the First World War, C.E.W. Bean ushers onto narrative centre-stage a certain Captain A.H. Scott, ‘who in private life was a clerk in Dalgety and Company’s Sydney office’...' (Introduction)
1 Our Ground Zero : Future Wars and the Imagined Destruction of Australia's Cities Robin Gerster , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 75 no. 3 2016; (p. 11-32)
1 The Elusive Moorehead : Channelling the Spirit of the Biographical Quarry Robin Gerster , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 384 2016; (p. 11-12)
— Review of Our Man Elsewhere : In Search of Alan Moorehead Thornton McCamish , 2016 single work biography

'You have to admire the professional writer who describes the chore of churning out the daily ration of words as 'like straining shit through a sock', though this may not have been the quotation for which Alan Moorehead would have chosen to be remembered. At the time he was Australia's most internationally celebrated writer, known for both his apparently effortless prose and the range of his subject matter, from the battlefields of World War II to the great age of European exploration in Africa. He was a cosmopolitan travel addict, the trailblazer of what was to become a golden generation of Australian expatriates (the sock simile was told to a young Robert Hughes at Moorehead's villa at the Tuscan seaside town Porto Ercole). The man of the 'great elsewhere' in Thornton McCamish's bold new biography, Moorehead had rejected the stultifying mediocrity of 'nowhere' (Melbourne) for 'somewhere' (Europe), along the way affecting an English accent that hid his origins. But it seems that he couldn't escape Australia and its idioms after all.' (Introduction)
1 Exile on Uranium Street: The Australian Nuclear Blues Robin Gerster , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 74 no. 1 2014; (p. 55-70)
1 The Old Man and the Sea Robin Gerster , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 27 October 2012; (p. 34)
— Review of Ray Parkin's Odyssey Pattie Wright , 2012 single work biography
1 Representations of Asia Robin Gerster , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 303-322) Traces the development in perceptions of Asian countries and peoples by Australian writers from colonial to recent times.
1 'Legends of the Terrible, Laughing Men' : The Australian Literature of War Robin Gerster , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Down Under : Australian Literary Studies Reader 2009; (p. 339-348) The essay gives an overview of Australian war literature, its writers and major works. Unlike most European literatures which depicted the 'Great War' in rather bleak terms and saw the soldiers as victims rather than heroes, Australian war literature celebrated the 'Digger', the heroic prototype as 'the birth of a latter-day Achilles' and glorified the soldiers: 'Self-congratulation was the norm rather than the exception in Australian literature of the Great War' (342). Gerster argues that this trend continued through World War II and Vietnam literature, and even in recent times 'the cult of the Australian soldier has never had such widespread, unquestioning support' (345-346).
1 [Review] Windchimes : Asia in Australian Robin Gerster , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 67 no. 3 2007; (p. 231-234)
— Review of Windchimes : Asia in Australian Poetry 2006 anthology poetry
1 Biography Robin Gerster , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 2 June no. 5383 2006; (p. 33)
— Review of Will Dyson : Australia's Radical Genius Ross McMullin , 2006 single work biography
1 Journalism : Eyewitness. Australians Write from the Front Line Robin Gerster , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 6 January no. 5362 2006; (p. 11)

'Australian war correspondents have long been known for their tenacious ability to get to the story, and for the paradoxical blend of patriotism and cynicism that is sometimes seen as an attribute of the national character. Thus a new anthology that showcases the range and vigour of their reports is very welcome.' (Introduction)
1 Writer Turned Captivity into Creative Experience Robin Gerster , 2005 single work obituary (for Ray Parkin )
— Appears in: The Age , 28 June 2005; (p. 12)
1 No Man is a Naked Island : The Australian POW Story Robin Gerster , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 65 no. 2 2005; (p. 44-59)
1 12 y separately published work icon On the War-Path : An Anthology of Australian Military Travel On the Warpath : An Anthology of Australian Military Travel Robin Gerster (editor), Peter Pierce (editor), Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 2004 Z1108788 2004 anthology prose autobiography extract poetry criticism diary essay travel war literature 'This anthology reveals the many ways in which going to war has formed a cultural bridge between Australia and the world. From the Sudan in 1885 to Afghanistan in 2001, the connection of war to travel is illustrated by writers and reveals how the experience of war has both broadened and refined (and sometimes distorted) Australian views of the world.' From cover of On the War-Path : An Anthology of Australian Military Travel (2004)
1 Back on the Warpath Peter Pierce , Robin Gerster , 2004 single work correspondence
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 262 2004; (p. 5-6)
1 (Dis)Orientating Japan: Confessions of a Literary Traveller Robin Gerster , 2002 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 62 no. 1 2002; (p. 137-148)
1 Missing the Zeitgeist Robin Gerster , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 243 2002; (p. 61)
— Review of Alanna Alan Saunders , 2002 single work novel
1 Homeward Bound : Australian Literary Travels in Asia Robin Gerster , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Crossings : Travel, Art, Literature, Politics 2001; (p. 121-132)
1 1 The Near North Robin Gerster , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 232 2001; (p. 42)
— Review of Past the Headlands Garry Disher , 2001 single work novel
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