This post is adapted from my speech for the Castlemaine launch of Kirsten Krauth's just_a_girl. There are three main characters in Kirsten Krauth’s excellent, powerful and confronting debut novel just_a_girl: teenage Layla, her mother Margot and a lonely Japanese man, Tadashi. As someone who had the internet at Layla’s age—14—I would also say her experience … Continue reading Kirsten Krauth’s just_a_girl
sexuality
Guest review: Matthew Giles on Parting With My Sex by Lucy Chesser
Sydney University Press 9781920898311 reviewed by Matthew Giles In his CAL/Meanjin essay of last year, Paul Daley argued that young Australians aren’t coerced by the state to think about their history in militaristic terms. He said that they do it on their own, because a militarised history is naturally more interesting. He was rebutting Marilyn … Continue reading Guest review: Matthew Giles on Parting With My Sex by Lucy Chesser
J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace
Disgrace JM Coetzee 9780099289524 Vintage (Aus, US) Disgrace is centred around David Lurie, a Romantic Poetry Professor at a Cape Town University, and an unapologetic lover of the firm, youthful, accommodating female form. He's been married twice, and in the story satisfies his hunger with a prostitute, and then a student, becoming enamored with both … Continue reading J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace
Seduce Me by Megan Clark
9780758209818, Kensington Fiction, 2008 (Aus, US) So it begins and ends with sex, and there's a whole lot of juicy business in the middle, but Seduce Me also has an intriguing storyline and vivid, memorable characters. Megan Clark utilises the characters' sexualities to round them out - desires, fulfillments, vulnerabilities and disappointments. Carissa has a … Continue reading Seduce Me by Megan Clark
The Best Unpublished Books – Part Two
The Ice Age – Kirsten Reed I think, if I’d read this book between the ages of 14-17, it would be my favourite book. Not that it only has young adult appeal. I still found that the laid-back protagonist, who doesn’t seem particularly fazed most of the time to be on the road with a … Continue reading The Best Unpublished Books – Part Two
Anais Nin's Delta of Venus – Feminine Identity Through Pleasure – A Mini Analysis
Anais Nin’s stories in Delta of Venus (Aus/US) were intended for a specific male client but it is possible to detect a feminine presence in the writing. Lynette Felber (1995) suggests that Nin called herself a feminine writer but nonetheless, wanted to grasp the male reader in her projects with Henry Miller and her erotic … Continue reading Anais Nin's Delta of Venus – Feminine Identity Through Pleasure – A Mini Analysis
Humbert's Journey of Self – a mini analysis of Lolita
Humbert Humbert deceptively narrates a journey of self in Lolita (Nabokov 2006) attempting to justify actions that the reader may find morally problematic. He is both aware of the societally placed reader, whom he often refers to as judge or juror (eg. on the very first page) and he weaves a seductive lyrical web to entice … Continue reading Humbert's Journey of Self – a mini analysis of Lolita
