OCTOBER
2008, No. 305
'History
versus the novelist'
James Bradley on Kate Grenville's
new novel
James Bradley reviews Kate
Grenville's new novel,
The Lieutenant. While praising the flawless construction,
economy and grace of The Lieutenant,
Bradley critiques
the novel's relationship with historical and biographical
sources. It remains mired, Bradley argues, in 'the same
mess
of historical pastiche that entraps Eleanor Dark's The
Timeless Land (1941), neither history (with all the
restrictions
that implies) nor truly fiction in its own right, but
some
unsatisfying amalgam of the two.'
'The
great nothingness'
Peter Pierce on The
Penguin Book of the Road
'Roads are not places,' writers Peter Pierce, 'but
ways
to and from them.' This anthology includes contributions
from
eminent Australian writers, including David Malouf, Robert
Hughes, Dorothy Hewett and Clive James. Commending
Delia Falconer's astute editorship, Pierce notes that
in spite
of the metaphor of divergence and flight, the characters
from
these stories are seeking ways to return home.
'Barefoot
on sharp stones'
Chris Wallace-Crabbe on Robert Dessaix
'Who is, or rather who was, Andre Gide?'
asks Chris
Wallace-Crabbe in his review of Robert Dessaix's Arabesques,
a 'tale of double lives'. Cross-stiching autobiography
with
reactions to exotic places and past writers, Dessaix takes
his
audience sightseeing through Algiers, Northern Italy and
France - much to Wallace-Crabbe's delight: 'Dessaix is
never
less than a writer of cunningly shaped, seductive narratives.'
'Missing from My Own Life'
Elisabeth Holdsworth - winner of
2007 Calibre Prize
Last year Elisabeth Holdsworth won the
inaugural Calibre
Prize for her essay 'An die Nachgeborenen: For
Those Who
Come After'. Few ABR articles have generated such
interest
and emotion. Now she has written a further instalment
of her
remarkable life story, and explains the reasons for depicting
aspects of it in fiction.
Sharman, shaman, showman
Gay Bilson on Blood &Tinsel
The
ever-popular Gay Bilson reviews Jim Sharman's memoirs.
Sharman has kept interesting company in his illustrious
career
as a theatre and opera director: Rudolf Nureyev's notorious
sexual haunts are mentioned; there is an exchanged look
with
Andy Warhol. At the heart of the book, however, is Sharman's
professional and personal relationship with Patrick White.
Click
here to view the complete contents of our October
issue.
Click
here and purchase a copy of the October 2008 issue.
