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y separately published work icon India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India selected work   poetry   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1984... 1984 India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India
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Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:Hale and Iremonger , 1984 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Cannibali"Morning. A ming blue sky overhangs the desert. Blue and", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 9)
Train Song 1i"Remember the long train rides, call of a shrill steam whistle", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 10)
Konarak (Orissa)i"Sun / moon", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 11)
Friday Pooja (Pondicherry)i"On a filmy full moon night the lady is orange through the sky,", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 12)
Kalahasti Isvara (Andhra Pradesh)i"Oh Goddess, where are You now that we need You most?", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 13)
Cuttack (Orissa), Vicki Viidikas , single work short story (p. 14-16)
Mantra for the Countessi"Come here", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 17-18)
Dharma Lessoni"Burmese Buddha.", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 19)
Gopalpur-on-Sea (Orissa)i"At 9 p.m. the villagers are asleep, families of ten bunked", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 20)
Wet Fruiti"Salt wind off the ocean, swimming in blue silk. Mirage of oasis", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 21)
Train Song 2i"Through unlit corridors the shuffle of suitcases and chapattis in baskets", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 22)
Kulu Valley (Himachal Pradesh)i"The white clouds lift off", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 23)
Glimpsei"We set off to see Tara Devi, Star Goddess, in Her niche of a stone temple.", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 24)
Himalayan Bootyi"Mica flashes,", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 25)
Harvest Festivali"Sometimes there are faces and moments of perfect smiles,", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 26)
Dhakshineswara Temple (Calcutta)i"What did the stars say in that hot Calcutta night? Black veils", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 27-28)
Durga Devii"I climbed, Mother,", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 29-30)
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)i"The Ganges is the most beautiful river, a gentle waterway", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 31)
Mt. Abu (Rajasthan)i"Dil - the heart, how it blossoms like a rose.", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 32)
Pushkar (Rajasthan)i"Pink lotuses swaying in a holy lake.", Vicki Viidikas , single work poetry (p. 33-34)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Confessional Surrealist Feminist : Vicki Viidikas’s Poetics and Politics Prithvi Varatharajan , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 2 no. 18 2018;

'This essay seeks to illuminate the entwined aesthetics of Vicki Viidikas’s poetry. Viidikas was a Sydney poet: she lived in Balmain, and spent long periods of time in India later in life. She was part of the generation of ‘68, which revelled in the countercultural spirit of the 1960s and 70s. Viidikas published three books of poetry in her lifetime: Condition Red (1973), Knäbel (1978), and India Ink (1984), as well as a book of short stories and prose poems, Wrappings (1974). Between 1985 and 1998 she published only a handful of poems in journals; India Ink would be her last book.

'The essay uses formative aesthetic, political, and material influences to read Viidikas’s work from 1973 to 1998. I argue that there are three major aspects in Viidikas’s poetry: the confessional, the surrealist, and the feminist. By contextualising her work in the confessional poetry genre, the surrealism of André Breton, and second wave feminism, I show that these aspects interact and overlap in subtle ways in her poems. Viidikas was steeped in feminist ideals for women’s writing, and was committed to representing female subjectivity in highly personal and uncensored ways. I show that in her poetry, a feminist ethos energises both her confessional voice and her surrealism. I also pay attention to the material circumstances of her poetry’s production, and the social and aesthetic practices of the generation of ‘68. This situated reading of Viidikas’s poetry allows me to look to the last 14 years of her life, when she retreated from publishing. While critics typically focus on her drug addiction in explaining her later marginalisation, I posit that the anti-capitalist values that Viidikas absorbed in her youth played a significant role in her withdrawal, in the 1980s and 90s, from the literary networks that had previously sustained her.' (Publication abstract)

India and Australia : Cross Cultural Connections Malati Mathur , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 70 no. 3 2010; (p. 37-45)
Explores the Indian influence in Australian literature, writers, and culture.
Asien in zeitgenoessischen australischen Gedichtsequenzen [Asia in contemporary Australian poetry sequences] Marion Spies , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australien zwischen Europa und Asien 1993; (p. 109-121)
Asian Encounters in the Contemporary Australian Short Story Bruce Bennett , 1986 single work criticism
— Appears in: World Literature Written in English , Spring vol. 26 no. 1 1986; (p. 49-61)
Supra-India : Steps to Understanding Adrian Rawlins , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 74 1985; (p. 31-32)

— Review of India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story
Seeking that Mysterious Movement Geoffrey Dutton , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 2 October vol. 106 no. 5436 1984; (p. 80-81)

— Review of Breakfasts in Shanghai Julian Croft , 1984 selected work poetry ; India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story ; The Three Fates and Other Poems Rosemary Dobson , 1984 selected work poetry ; Your Shadow : (Poems 1980-83) Kevin Hart , 1984 selected work poetry ; Windfalls : Poems Andrew Lansdown , 1984 selected work poetry ; Wollongong Poems Conal Fitzpatrick , 1984 selected work poetry ; Listening at Night Dennis Haskell , 1984 selected work poetry ; Manners of an Astronaut Gig Ryan , 1984 selected work poetry ; The Skylight Robert Gray , 1984 selected work poetry
Slow Tennis : A Poets' Eleven Geoff Page , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 29 no. 4 1985; (p. 71-75)

— Review of Breakfasts in Shanghai Julian Croft , 1984 selected work poetry ; India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story ; The Three Fates and Other Poems Rosemary Dobson , 1984 selected work poetry ; Poetry Australia no. 97 Craig Powell , 1984 periodical issue poetry ; A Flag for the Wind Philip Martin , 1982 selected work poetry ; Your Shadow : (Poems 1980-83) Kevin Hart , 1984 selected work poetry ; Listening at Night Dennis Haskell , 1984 selected work poetry ; The Skylight Robert Gray , 1984 selected work poetry ; Canterbury Folk J. M. Couper , 1984 selected work poetry ; Slow Tennis : Poems: 1980-1983 Gary Catalano , 1984 selected work poetry ; Atlantis and Other Islands S. C. Harrex , 1984 selected work poetry
The Tree as a Tennis Ball, Clipping the Horizon's Net Judith Rodriguez , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 December 1985; (p. 26)

— Review of Slow Tennis : Poems: 1980-1983 Gary Catalano , 1984 selected work poetry ; The Day the River Cornelis Vleeskens , 1984 selected work poetry ; India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story
Encounters with the Other Max Richards , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 69 1985; (p. 35)

— Review of The Skylight Robert Gray , 1984 selected work poetry ; Your Shadow : (Poems 1980-83) Kevin Hart , 1984 selected work poetry ; India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story
Shapely Poems Show Preoccupation with Past Kerryn Goldsworthy , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 19 January 1985; (p. 10)

— Review of The Skylight Robert Gray , 1984 selected work poetry ; India Ink : A Collection of Prose Poems Written in India Vicki Viidikas , 1984 selected work poetry short story ; The Three Fates and Other Poems Rosemary Dobson , 1984 selected work poetry
India and Australia : Cross Cultural Connections Malati Mathur , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 70 no. 3 2010; (p. 37-45)
Explores the Indian influence in Australian literature, writers, and culture.
Asien in zeitgenoessischen australischen Gedichtsequenzen [Asia in contemporary Australian poetry sequences] Marion Spies , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australien zwischen Europa und Asien 1993; (p. 109-121)
Asian Encounters in the Contemporary Australian Short Story Bruce Bennett , 1986 single work criticism
— Appears in: World Literature Written in English , Spring vol. 26 no. 1 1986; (p. 49-61)
Confessional Surrealist Feminist : Vicki Viidikas’s Poetics and Politics Prithvi Varatharajan , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 2 no. 18 2018;

'This essay seeks to illuminate the entwined aesthetics of Vicki Viidikas’s poetry. Viidikas was a Sydney poet: she lived in Balmain, and spent long periods of time in India later in life. She was part of the generation of ‘68, which revelled in the countercultural spirit of the 1960s and 70s. Viidikas published three books of poetry in her lifetime: Condition Red (1973), Knäbel (1978), and India Ink (1984), as well as a book of short stories and prose poems, Wrappings (1974). Between 1985 and 1998 she published only a handful of poems in journals; India Ink would be her last book.

'The essay uses formative aesthetic, political, and material influences to read Viidikas’s work from 1973 to 1998. I argue that there are three major aspects in Viidikas’s poetry: the confessional, the surrealist, and the feminist. By contextualising her work in the confessional poetry genre, the surrealism of André Breton, and second wave feminism, I show that these aspects interact and overlap in subtle ways in her poems. Viidikas was steeped in feminist ideals for women’s writing, and was committed to representing female subjectivity in highly personal and uncensored ways. I show that in her poetry, a feminist ethos energises both her confessional voice and her surrealism. I also pay attention to the material circumstances of her poetry’s production, and the social and aesthetic practices of the generation of ‘68. This situated reading of Viidikas’s poetry allows me to look to the last 14 years of her life, when she retreated from publishing. While critics typically focus on her drug addiction in explaining her later marginalisation, I posit that the anti-capitalist values that Viidikas absorbed in her youth played a significant role in her withdrawal, in the 1980s and 90s, from the literary networks that had previously sustained her.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 10 Jan 2020 13:10:56
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