Cirrus@Austlit

'The title poem of this collection ('Ladylike') draws on pamphlets associated with the notorious case of the bigamist Mary Carleton, who was executed in 1673, and texts contemporary with it; women from Sigmund Freud's case studies provide the material for the series of poems, 'Round Vienna'; and the sequence 'Cleft' is dedicated to Kate Lilley's mother, Australian literary giant Dorothy Hewett.

'Throughout this collection, Kate mines the areas of her scholarly specialisation - the early modern period - as well as contemporary popular culture and matches it with some of the twentieth century's enduring interests such as psychoanalysis and Freud.

'Ladylike is a valuable addition to Australian poetry at large and will be of interest to readers of poetry, early modern history, Freud and early psychoanalysis.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Poetry. A collection of work by innovative Australian poets whose work shares an interest in "a primary art of transformation in language" (from the introduction). All contributors traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area in April 2016 to participate in a four-day meeting with similarly-committed U.S.-based poets. The title of the event is also that of the anthology, which its editors intend as an extension and prolongation of the April gathering. ACTIVE AESTHETICS brings news across the Pacific and across the equator of Australia's current radical poetry and poetics. As is true of new poetry in the US, much of the work here reflects the complexity and urgency of political thinking within the aesthetic sphere.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.