Antipodes articles from December 2000

Antipodes archives from December 2000

About the cover.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... "Wild Flower Dreaming" 1995 Emily Kame Kngwarreye 90 x 120 cm Acrylic on cotton Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born about 1910 at Alhalkere (Soakage Boar) Utopia Station. She was a senior artist at Utopia. From the time she painted...

A time for change.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Fourteen years ago a small group of Australian literature enthusiasts founded Antipodes--A North American Journal of Australian Literature. In 1987 all too many people in North America still said with a smirk: "Australian literature? I didn't...

Interior landscapes in Peter Porter's later poetry.(Critical Essay)
December 1, 2000... Peter Porter, along with Les Murray, is Australia's most eminent practicing poet. But because Porter left Australia for England in the early 1950s, his work has been less closely associated than Murray's with the country he was born in, and...

From: "Thirteen Kinds of Footnotes".(Poem)
December 1, 2000... From: "Thirteen Kinds of Footnotes" STEPHEN LAWRENCE J'appartiens a une generation qui n'est plus jeune. Once, the writer did the work, scattered references Like gentle seasoning, inviting the reader to verify. My son...

With Our Clothes On.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... With Our Clothes On BELINDA J. RULE And you know I once heard him say to that woman of his, he said, "You were after me that summer we were drinking at the James most every day and breaking in over the fence and jumping in...

Speaking with Sally Morgan. (Interview).(Interview)
December 1, 2000... On Wednesday, 11 August 1999, I met with artist Sally Morgan, at the University of Western Australia. The public discovered her with My Place, a valuable autobiography in which she recounts how she came to understand she was an Aboriginal...

To A Magic Czech Flautist.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... To A Magic Czech Flautist GRAEME HETHERINGTON As pale and interesting as you, And like your eyes, the only light As I walk home alone from your Recital in the godless dark, The moon plays with her silvered breath And...

Sestina for Beginners.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Sestina for Beginners. MARK MAHEMOFF All that counts is the collection of debris, the litter of our lives which we bundle and finally discard or sort through for highlights. It all adds up to the shape of our existence. We...

Unsettling narratives: subversive mimicry in Australian Aboriginal solo performance pieces.(Critical Essay)
December 1, 2000... In his plays written and produced in the eighties, Kullark, The Dreamers, No Sugar, and Barungin, the late Australian dramatist Jack Davis set the formal and thematic standards of the then fledgling genre of Aboriginal drama. While his...

To Mudrooroo.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... To Mudrooroo JOHN MATEER I saw you at Wisdom books buying Buddhist texts. I saw you at the Writers Festival mocking all the pale skins. Is Kurdiatcha Man a singsong, a Jackie or a Johnny? Must you also be of...

America and the Australian Performing Group.
December 1, 2000... The development of a distinctively Australian theater is commonly traced to two companies that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Australian Performing Group (APG) in Melbourne and the Nimrod in Sydney. The work of both companies is...

Easter Images in Tasmania.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Easter Images in Tasmania. PETER HUNT An old gray horse fretting under the firs, Beyond, a row of poplars, faintly gold, Espaliered apples rosy on the wires, And down the hill, a stretch of wrinkled water Blue-misted,...

From 'Don't Leave Me'. (Fiction).(Excerpt)(Fiction)
December 1, 2000... True to form, on Christmas morning, like any other, I lay in a stew of sheets and sweat, oppressed outside (by the humidity's heaviness) as well as inside. Carrie, who'd made a sacrifice and emerged from her room in daylight, had come to the...

"It's all contrary" -- utopian projections in the Antipodes.(Critical Essay)
December 1, 2000... Navigators, explorers, and writers were long inspired by the idea that in the southern hemisphere a mass of land exists as a counterbalance to the landmasses in the northern part of the globe (Gibson 2f.). Long before Australia was mapped,...

Embalming Skin.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Embalming Skin. ALISON DANIEL I don't hear voices in my head and I'm not afraid of the dark but I remember things, long after I've put them away. Today, I found you, a cavorting angel from the Kabbalah. You appeared after...

Historians.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Historians. STEPHEN EDGAR Here through the hotel window: hills like hessian Heaped over there across the river's throng Of Chinese sparklers, a light breeze to freshen The sky's one pastel page, that palimpsest Rubbed back, on...

Joseph Furphy and some American friends--temper, democratic; bias, offensively self-reliant.(Critical Essay)
December 1, 2000... In a letter to J. F. Archibald, dated the 4th of April, 1897, Joseph Furphy wrote "I have just finished writing a full-sized novel: title, 'Such is Life,' scene, Riverina and northern Vic; temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian"...

Physical.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Physical BROOK EMERY You step off the edge of a pool, a springboard, a cliff, a world, into the brief, lingering drop through the air, absence then presence in the splash and broken liquid skin, the blue nano- second in- and...

"The best Corots..."; Eternal Silence. (Two Poems).(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Two poems by Gary Catalano... "The best Corots..." The best Corots are invariably found outside the museums. My favorite is the one you see each night when the vedettes cruising up and down the river momentarily imprint the shadows...

Hens; Rooster. (Two Poems).(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Two poems by Sarah Day. Hens I think I've been waiting for you all my life. To glimpse you through the kitchen window scratching between iris and daffodil disrupting roots, sprawling moll-like in a patch of sun, wings spread...

Original face. (Fiction).(Short Story)
December 1, 2000... Lewis flew when he crossed the bridge. It was his, every time. Not the old bridge, the coat-hanger--although on a good day that presented a view to take your breath away--but the new one that soared out over the fish market, the powerhouses,...

Monologue for the unexplainable.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Monologue for the Unexplainable JANE WILLIAMS it has something to do with the kind of stillness required to attract a butterfly to land and those times we might spontaneously combust if touched how a heart can freeze right in...

Waiting on the Side of the Road.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Waiting on the Side of the Road LORRAINE MARWOOD Blonde pinheads of ripe barley grass snagging on the silk of the wind. A whole handthrow of crows black airmilling beyond, in the tree line, dipping in an unseen wave of...

The Wild Colonial Boy -- the making of colonial legends in David Malouf's The Conversations at Curlow Creek.(Critical Essay)
December 1, 2000... "They say I did but it's a lie, there's a lot that's not true in what they say." Daniel Carney I -- Like all Good Stories, an Old One in a New Form In the Epilogue to David Malouf's The Conversations at Curlow Creek, the ex-army...

An Afternoon Change.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... An Afternoon Change DAVID LUMSDEN Wind invaded the hotel room flagging the muslin curtains. An undressed woman crawled from bed to pull the heavy window down. In the dust-whipped street below men held their hats on as...

"The Allman Confessions": from Channeling Harry. (Fiction).(Excerpt)(Fiction)
December 1, 2000... At home in the Village, Martina made a delicious spinach soup for us. We sat together around the candle-splattered table and covered it with crusty breadcrumbs while we talked about our experiences in the world. Martina had achieved something...

Black and White.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... Black and White PETER ROSE A lanky Tybalt struts past thumping his basketball, athletic as morning in lycro and sweatbands, the fluoro-girdle that pinches him to pulse. Quick glance at the sunis mirror and expectation...

Michael Wilding on Australian publishing in a global environment. (Commentary).
December 1, 2000... Globalization is here and has dramatically changed that last cottage industry of the establishment, the book trade. The world of the gentleman publisher with a personal and idiosyncratic involvement in his editorial list, has now been...

The astronomer sends his ashes to Mars.(Poem)
December 1, 2000... The astronomer sends his ashes to Mars TRICIA DEARBORN still close enough to Earth that, could he see, he'd recognize the constellations but the rhythm of days eludes him two moons grace his airless nights and...

Triangles. (Soundings from Down Under).
December 1, 2000... Theorists such as Rene Girard have argued that the love triangle, or any sort of three-sided emotional equation, is the essential ingredient behind most narrative configurations. In his collection Triangles (Interactive Press), David P....

All about American-Australian migrations. (Soundings from Down Under).
December 1, 2000... America and Americans in Australia (Praeger), by David Mosler and Bob Catley, is a study of American immigration to Australia, which will help clear up mythologies and immeasurably improve communications between the two countries. The authors...

Maiden's mines. (Soundings from Down Under).(book of poetry)
December 1, 2000... Jennifer Maiden's territory is Sydney's Western Suburbs, where she until recently worked as poet-in-residence in a trauma center. Mines (Paper Bark Press; US distributor, Gordon and Breach) is her thirteenth and latest book of poetry. The...

Gaelic Poetry. (Soundings from Down Under).
December 1, 2000... Louis de Paor's Cork and Other Poems (Corcach & Danta Eile), published by Black Pepper Press, seems at first but an intriguing cultural phenomenon. De Paor (born 1961) is an Irish Gaelic poet who resided for a time in Australia. Here he...

Writing "Asia" anew. (Soundings from Down Under).
December 1, 2000... Brian Castro is, along with Nicholas Jose and Christopher Koch, one of the best-known writers who have systematically tackled "Australia-Asia" issues; in his new book of essays, Looking for Estrellita (UQP; US distributor ISBS), Castro offers...

Thylazine. (Soundings from Down Under).
December 1, 2000... The thylacine, the (apparently) extinct Tasmanian "tiger," has been a motif in several recent Australian books, including Julia Leigh's absorbing, prize-winning The Hunter as well as the sculptures of the U.S. artist Rachel Berwick and the...

History is a bad dream, but for whom? (Fiction).(Out of Ireland)
December 1, 2000... Christopher Koch. Out of Ireland. Sydney: Doubleday, 1999. 706 pages. Hardback Aus$45.00. Paperback Aus$22.95. ISBN 186 4710 381. AS ROBERT DEVEREUX, Irish Protestant patriot and transported British political prisoner, escapes...

Exploring external and internal landscapes. (Fiction).(Watersky)
December 1, 2000... Terry Whitebeach. Watersky. Fremantle: Arts Centre Press, 1998. 223 pages. Aus$15.95. ISBN 1 86368 213 9. Pat Jacobs. Going Inland. Fremantle: Arts Centre Press, 1998. 216 pages. Aus$15.95. ISBN 186368 206 6. TERRY WHITEBEACH'S...

Links to the past, framed by the present. (Fiction).(Poe's Cat)
December 1, 2000... Brenda Walker. Poe's Cat. Melbourne: Penguin, 1999. 234 pages. Aus$ 24.95. ISBN 0 670 88440 5. IN HER THIRD NOVEL, Poe's Cat , Brenda Walker makes a striking departure from her previous experimental works, Crush and One More River....

Sea changes and other phenomena. (Poetry).(The Shifting Shore)
December 1, 2000... Ian Reid. The Shifting Shore. Victoria: Deakin University, 1997; Grange Press (Canada), 1999. 67 pages. ISBN 07300 270 82. WHEN SINGING TO Ferdinand of the "sea-change" suffered by his father in The Tempest, Ariel highlights both the...

Poets plumb resources of language and spirit. (Poetry).(two books on poetry)
December 1, 2000... Kevin Hart. Wicked Heat. Sydney: Paper Bark Press, 1999. (US distributor: Gordon and Breach.) 88 pages. Aus$25.00. ISBN 90 570407 6X. Peter Steele. Invisible Riders. Sydney: Paper Bark Press, 1999. (US distributor Gordon and Breach.) 101...

The computer and the poet. (Poetry).(two books on poetry)
December 1, 2000... John Tranter. Different Hands. Fremantle: Folio/Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1998. 80 pages. ISBN 1 86368 241 4. Peter Minter. Empty Texas. Sydney: Paper Bark Press, 1999. 80 pages. Aus$22.95. ISBN 90 5704 036 0. I FIRST CAME ACROSS...

Controlled anger and hidden depths. (Poetry).
December 1, 2000... Stephen Oliver. Unmanned. Wellington: HeadworX, 1999. 90 pages. Aus$17.95. ISBN 0473 05753 0. STEPHEN OLIVER'S EIGHTH collection of verse first catches one's eye by its cover illustration, Matt Ottley's "Attic Fever," a parodic remake of...

Whose image? whose mirror? (Aboriginal Writing).
December 1, 2000... Kim Scott. Benang: From the Heart. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1999. 500 pages. Aus$21.49. ISBN: 1 86368 240 6. (DymockseBooks.com--available as an eBook for US$7.95 or Aus$14.95.) John Muk Muk Burke. Night Song and Other...

Man bites Shark? Ask Robert Drewe! (Memoir).(The Shark Net Memories and Murder)
December 1, 2000... Robert Drewe. The Shark Net Memories and Murder. New York: Penguin, 2000. 288 pages. US$24.95. ISBN 0670 8880 95. CHILDHOOD. SHARKS. The Finest Rubber Products in the World. Newspapers. Perth and Serial Killers. If you cannot imagine that...

A report from "Mirror City". (Biography).(Wrestling With The Angel: A Life of Janet Frame)
December 1, 2000... Michael King. Wrestling With The Angel: A Life of Janet Frame. Washington: Counterpoint, 2000. US$30.00. 583 pages. ISBN 1 58243 069 1. WHEN MICHAEL KING began this monumental biography of the New Zealand literary icon Janet Frame, born...

Out of the bush, a glorious singer. (Biography).(Jock: A Life Story of John Shaw Neilson)
December 1, 2000... Cliff Hanna. Jock: A Life Story of John Shaw Neilson. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1999. 321 pages. Aus$ 29.95. ISBN 0 7022 3088X. IT WAS NOT UNTIL shortly before John Shaw Neilson's death in 1942 that official recognition...

Silent lunches. Conversations and trays. (Biography).(Stravinsky's Lunch)
December 1, 2000... Drusilla Modjeska. Stravinsky's Lunch. Sydney: Macmillan, 1999. 364 pages. Aus$ 50.00. ISBN 0 330 36186 4. WHEN STRAVINSKY WAS in the middle of a composition, he required absolute silence over lunch. Nobody was allowed to make the least...

A responsible survey of sci-fi. (Criticism).(Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction)
December 1, 2000... Russel Blackford, Van Ilkin, and Sean McMullen. Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999. 247 pages. US$59.95. ISNN 0193 6875. STRANGE CONSTELLATIONS: A History of Australian Science...

Recognizing A.D. Hope's achievement. (Criticism).(The Double Looking Glass: New and Classic Essays on the Poetry of A.D. Hope)
December 1, 2000... David Brooks, editor. The Double Looking Glass: New and Classic Essays on the Poetry of A.D. Hope. Brisbane: UQP Studies in Australian Literature, University of Queensland Press. 298 pages. Aus$32.95. ISBN 070 2231 487. DAVID BROOKS HAS...

The courteous critic. (Criticism).(Investigations in Australian Literature)
December 1, 2000... Ken Stewart. Investigations in Australian Literature. Sydney: Sydney Association for Studies in Society and Culture, 2000. Aus$25. 205 pages. ISBN 1 86487 280 2. INVESTIGATIONS IN Australian Literature, a collection of essays by Ken...

Fighting racism in different ways. (Social Issues).(two books on racism)
December 1, 2000... Raymond Evans. Fighting Words: Writing about Race. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1999. 277 pages. Aus$29.95. ISBN 0 7022 3109 6. Norman C. Habel. Reconciliation: Searching for Australias Soul. Sydney: Harper...

Another identity quest gets underway. (Social Issues).(The Imaginary Australian: Anglo-Celts and Identity, 1788 to the Present)
December 1, 2000... Miriam Dixson. The Imaginary Australian: Anglo-Celts and Identity -- 1788 to the Present. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 1999. 216 pages. Aus$24.95. ISBN 0 86840 665 1. IN WHAT MUST BE one of the least often recalled Whitlam...

Discovering Australia anew more or less. (Travel).(In a Sunbumed Country)
December 1, 2000... Bill Bryson. In a Sunbumed Country. New York: Broadway Books, 2000. 307 pages. $25.00. ISBN 0767 90385 4. IN PANGLOSSIAN EXCESS the dust jacket announces, "Published just in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, In a Sunburned...

Displaying diversity. (Anthology).(Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology)
December 1, 2000... Robert Ross, editor. Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology. New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1999. vii, 457 pages. Paperback $22.95. Hardback $60.00. ISBN 0 8153 1431 0. DIRECTED TO THE general reader and to...

Of history and geography. (Anthology).(Along These Lines: From Trowenna to Tasmania)
December 1, 2000... C.A. Cranston, editor. Along These Lines: From Trowenna to Tasmania. Launceston: Cornford Press, 2000. Aus$29.95. 441 pages. ISBN 0 9577565 1 8. TROWENNA IS THE TERM used by its original human inhabitants to refer to the place known...

Looking back to the good/bad old days. (Miscellany).(When London Calls)
December 1, 2000... Stephen Alomes. When London Calls. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. US$22.95. 272 pages. ISBN 052 16297 80. Granta 70. Australia: The New New World. US$14.95. BOTH OF THESE works are about looking back and each contains a...

Judith Wright & A.D. Hope.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Within weeks of each other, in June and July of 2000, two of Australia's major poets died, first Judith Wright and then A. D. Hope. Wright was 85 and Hope just shy of 94. Many obituaries noted their deaths as the end of an era, and it was...