I settle into my new Wintec saddle and guide my pony to a halt. We’ve already trotted in circles and figure eights for enough time in the little yard for Trixie to cough, snort, wheeze and fart her displeasure. TrixieRead more…
Unearthing lesbian desire
The first kiss between Sue and Maud in Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel Fingersmith is visually suggestive and subtly erotic. ‘I kissed her again. Then I touched her. I touched her face. I began at the meeting of our mouths […] I hadRead more…
What’s in a (pen) name?: writers and the fate of the female pseudonym
‘What’s in a name?’ asked William Shakespeare. Apparently, a lot. From the use of initials to the chosen gender of the author’s name, research has shown that an author’s name has a significant impact on sales percentages. A Time articleRead more…
No Man’s Land Reading Project: The Secret River
[This is the 21st instalment in Ashley Thomson’s No Man’s Land Reading Project.] I wonder how many nations’ readers are familiar with the sensation of picking up a work of literary fiction and recognising in it the voices of five orRead more…
This is Not a Book Review: women, the middlebrow and the Sydney Review of Books
Not so long ago, academic Beth Driscoll published an essay in the Sydney Review of Books (SRB). This is an online publication which deliberately blurs the distinction between the review and the essay, scholarly writing and literary journalism. This essay,Read more…