Blog Archives

Warning and consolation, Mark Houlahan

Selected Poems Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781869408596 If you dine at Ian Wedde’s, the poetic indications are you’ll eat well. Among the many charms of this seductive, fatly packed Selected Poems are the number of food groups…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

The gap between fiction and history, Hamish Clayton

R.H.I.: Two Novellas Tim Corballis Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864739827 Trifecta Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864739834 In 1987, the South African novelist J M Coetzee spoke at the Weekly Mail Book Week in Cape Town, offering…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Digging and delving, Tim Corballis and Ingrid Horrocks

The Grass Catcher: A Digression About Home Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780864739384 The protagonist of the present-day portion of Symmes Hole (1986), Ian Wedde’s canonical and underread novel about settler colonialism, is obsessed with history. He digs…
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Posted in Essays, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Time’s wingèd chariot, Mark Houlahan

Us, Then Vincent O’Sullivan Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780867438929 The Lifeguard: Poems 2008-20013 Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9781869407698 Life and Customs Bernadette Hall Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864739001 “But at my back I always hear…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

The difficult decisive moment, Tom Elliott

I Loved You the Moment I Saw You Peter Black Victoria University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9780864736598   The first pages of Peter Black’s I Loved You the Moment I Saw You struck me with their colourful, contemporary design and fine…
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Posted in Non-fiction, Photography, Review

Being in time, Stephen Harris

The Catastrophe Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780864736475   The image on the cover of Ian Wedde’s new novel, The Catastrophe, sets the satirical tone and pitch of the ensuing story: the bold noun of the title, announcing…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Good returns, Cilla McQueen

Table Talk Kevin Ireland Cape Catley, $25.99, ISBN 9781877340246 Africa Alistair Paterson Puriri Press, $36.00, ISBN 9780908943364 The Lakes of Mars Chris Orsman Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404086 The Worm in the Tequila Geoff Cochrane Victoria University Press, $25.00,…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Seen in the right light, Jenny Harper

Bill Culbert: Making Light Work Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $99.99, ISBN 9781869404390 Making Light Work is a great title, the best I’ve come across for some time. It makes me smile and think of Bill Culbert, the subject of…
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Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Time out, Mark Houlahan

Chinese Opera Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735850 When a story by Ian Wedde called “Chinese Opera” was published in Sport 2, readers were informed that he expected to “finish Chinese Opera, his fourth novel, in 1989.” Nineteen…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Home and away. Paula Morris

I Am Always With You Philip Temple Random, $34.99, ISBN 1869417739 The Viewing Platform Ian Wedde Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 9780143020929 Local writers Stevan Eldred-Grigg (Kaput!) and Tina Shaw (The Black Madonna) have found imaginative inspiration in wartime Berlin, and now…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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