y separately published work icon Knabel selected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 1978... 1978 Knabel
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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)

Knabel Helenka Jiricek , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Womanspeak , June-July vol. 4 no. 5 1979; (p. 29)

— Review of Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry
The Visionary Editor Christopher Pollnitz , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 39 no. 4 1979; (p. 462-478)

— Review of Death's Directives Bruce Beaver , 1978 single work sequence poetry ; Remembering the Rural Life Gary Catalano , 1978 selected work poetry ; Idols of the Market Place and Other Poems Donald Moore , 1978 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street Poetry Reader No.2 1978 anthology poetry ; Under Cover Agent Ian Reid , 1978 selected work poetry ; Invitation to a Marxist Lesbian Party Lee Cataldi , 1978 selected work poetry ; Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry ; Under the Weather Laurie Duggan , 1978 selected work poetry ; The Gods Ash Their Cigarettes S. K. Kelen , 1978 selected work poetry ; Cup Full of River Billy Jones , 1978 selected work poetry ; Blindspot John Jenkins , 1977 selected work poetry ; Collecting the Weather Geoff Page , 1978 selected work poetry ; Life Death and Some Words About Them Viv Kitson , 1978 selected work poetry ; Parabolas : Prose Poems Andrew Taylor , 1976 selected work poetry ; The Aviary : Poems (1975-1977) Peter Skrzynecki , 1978 selected work poetry ; Replacing Mirrors Graham Rowlands , 1975 selected work poetry ; Foot Falls and Notes Philip Hammial , 1976 selected work poetry ; HongKong Suicide and Other Poems Cornelis Vleeskens , 1976 selected work poetry
Notes and Comments Kate Lilley , 1978 single work review
— Appears in: New Poetry , vol. 26 no. 4 1978; (p. 50-54)

— Review of Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry
Knabel Helenka Jiricek , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Womanspeak , June-July vol. 4 no. 5 1979; (p. 29)

— Review of Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry
Notes and Comments Kate Lilley , 1978 single work review
— Appears in: New Poetry , vol. 26 no. 4 1978; (p. 50-54)

— Review of Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry
The Visionary Editor Christopher Pollnitz , 1979 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 39 no. 4 1979; (p. 462-478)

— Review of Death's Directives Bruce Beaver , 1978 single work sequence poetry ; Remembering the Rural Life Gary Catalano , 1978 selected work poetry ; Idols of the Market Place and Other Poems Donald Moore , 1978 selected work poetry ; Friendly Street Poetry Reader No.2 1978 anthology poetry ; Under Cover Agent Ian Reid , 1978 selected work poetry ; Invitation to a Marxist Lesbian Party Lee Cataldi , 1978 selected work poetry ; Knabel Vicki Viidikas , 1978 selected work poetry ; Under the Weather Laurie Duggan , 1978 selected work poetry ; The Gods Ash Their Cigarettes S. K. Kelen , 1978 selected work poetry ; Cup Full of River Billy Jones , 1978 selected work poetry ; Blindspot John Jenkins , 1977 selected work poetry ; Collecting the Weather Geoff Page , 1978 selected work poetry ; Life Death and Some Words About Them Viv Kitson , 1978 selected work poetry ; Parabolas : Prose Poems Andrew Taylor , 1976 selected work poetry ; The Aviary : Poems (1975-1977) Peter Skrzynecki , 1978 selected work poetry ; Replacing Mirrors Graham Rowlands , 1975 selected work poetry ; Foot Falls and Notes Philip Hammial , 1976 selected work poetry ; HongKong Suicide and Other Poems Cornelis Vleeskens , 1976 selected work poetry
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 12 Feb 2008 16:55:59
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