Lyric and Narrative single work   review  
Issue Details: First known date: 2002... 2002 Lyric and Narrative
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Dorothy Porter’s new verse novel, Wild Surmise, takes an almost classic form. The verse novel is now well-established as a modern genre, and Porter has stamped a distinctive signature and voice on the verse form, particularly with the phenomenal success of her racy, action-packed detective novel, The Monkey’s Mask (1994). So it comes as no surprise to find this book setting a similarly cracking pace across some not entirely unexpected territory: an adulterous love affair between two women; and the death, through cancer, of a husband. Additional glamour and some thematic variation are provided by the women’s profession, astronomy. Both women are favourites on the lecture and television circuit, and Alex Leefson’s passionate interest in finding traces of biological life on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, generates some of the more purely lyrical moments.'  (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review ABR no. 245 October 2002 Z983947 2002 periodical issue 2002 pg. 47
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review ABR no. 407 December 2018 15325148 2018 periodical issue

    'Welcome to the December issue of ABR! Highlights include:

    • Books of the Year: 34 critics and authors, including Michelle de Kretser, Fiona Wright, Beejay Silcox, Gregory Day, and Gideon Haigh, nominate their favourite books of 2018.
    • Review of the Month: Glyn Davis on David Marr’s new collection of speeches, essays, and stories, My Country.
    • Peter Goldsworthy lauds the Collected Poems of Les Murray.
    • Professor Joy Damousi on the controversial vetoing of eleven ARC grants, and brief statements from a further thirteen academics.
    • Andrea Goldsmith’s tribute to her late partner and poet Dorothy Porter.'

    2018
    pg. 76
Last amended 5 Dec 2018 11:17:28
47 Lyric and Narrativesmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
76 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2002/235-october-2002-no-245/5248-stephanie-trigg-reviews-wild-surmise-by-dorothy-porter Lyric and Narrativesmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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