ADVANCES
The
latest literary news and musings from the Editor's desk ...
Her
Majesty's barren honours
If writers, and creative artists in general, needed confirmation
of the nation’s tenuous regard for their contribution, they
got it in various forms last month. Most egregious of these was
the controversy surrounding Bill Henson’s recent exhibition
in Sydney and his use of adolescent models. Mayhem of a kind we
haven’t seen in decades ensued, none of it edifying. Much
of this was predictable: the reflexive tactics of anti-pornography
campaigners, the febrile provocations of some Sydney broadcasters,
the facile editorialising from newspapers whose websites resemble
lurid peep-shows. More depressing and unexpected was the readiness
of politicians (including the prime minister), many of them unfamiliar
with Henson’s art, to deride the work of one of Australia’s
most distinguished photographers; and the wider public ignorance
about artistic intent that was revealed, even gloried in, along
the way.
Then we had the Queen’s Birthday honours list. Earlier this
year, the Australia Day honours list generated much criticism.
Australian Book Review remarked on the paucity of creative
artists, a dearth that had become more pronounced in recent years.
The Editor, Peter Rose, writing in the March issue, said: ‘If
we must have national honours, if we really believe that exceptional
people should be lauded in this way, then creative writers should
be represented alongside the moguls and the cricketers and the
film actors and the swarm of state governors. Otherwise we will
end up with a mickey mouse system that no one respects –
another cosy club for the wealthy, the powerful and the well affiliated.’
The Queen’s Birthday honours list (surely an anachronism
in itself) was even more destitute. Reading these honours lists
is one of the least rewarding literary starts to
a day, but Advances approached the task diligently and could spot
only one author across all the categories: Dennis Altman. We congratulate
Professor Altman, a former board member of ABR, a current
editorial adviser and a frequent contributor (he has a review
on page 34). But what of his contribution to gay rights? What
of his ‘service to literature’? Dennis Altman virtually
put the homosexual cause on the map in Australia back in the 1970s.
He did so bravely, controversially. He has written
a dozen books, including the seminal Homosexual Oppression
and Liberation (1971). None of this was noted in his citation.
‘Literature’ was thus wholly ignored in this round.
It has been clear for some time that the AC, the crème
de la crème, is the redoubt of former prime ministers and
other senior politicians, vice-regents, bureaucrats, moguls, businessmen
and the odd celebrity. Now it becomes incontrovertible that creative
artists (especially those without academic or professional clout)
are of little interest to the people who determine the shape of
our honours list – at any level.
Perhaps writers’ organisations and writers themselves (not
just republican ones too) should boycott this increasingly dubious,
philistine process.
In
his own good time
Steven Carroll has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award at his
third attempt. The Time We Have Taken, published by Fourth
Estate, won the Award, worth $42,000, in a field of five, the
other shortlisted novelists being David Brooks, Rodney Hall, Gail
Jones and Alex Miller. Two of Carroll’s earlier novels, The
Art of the Engine Driver (2001) and The Gift of Speed
(2004), were shortlisted. It’s not a bad record, really.
The Time We Have Taken has also won the Commonwealth Writers’
Prize for Best Book, South-East Asia and South Pacific Region.
Christina Hill, who reviewed it in the March 2007 issue, found
much to praise: ‘The Time We Have Taken is breathtakingly
ambitious, a Proustian narrative, allusive, reflective …’
Free
online novel
Fremantle Press and Western Australian author Simon Hayes are
giving away complete online copies of the novel Hal Spacejock
1. To coincide with the release of the fourth book, Hal
Spacejock: No Free Lunch can now be downloaded. Although the
practice is rare in Australia, free online books in the science
fiction genre have been given away by overseas publishers with
interesting results. Initial reports indicate that releasing ‘freebies’
can lead to increased book sales. To download your free copy of
Hal Spacejock 1 go to www.spacejock.com.au.
Bravo,
Chong!
Text Publishing’s inimitable designer W.H. Chong, who generously
designs all of our front covers, took out the prize for Best Designed
General Fiction Book at the 56th annual Australian Publishing
Association Design Awards, which were announced in May. Chong’s
award-winning design was for Steven Hall’s novel The Raw
Shark Texts.
Extension
of the Reviewing Competition
This year’s Reviewing Competition – worth $1000 –
was due to close on June 30. We’ve become aware that many
university students wished to enter but were finding it hard to
do so before the semester break in July. Thus we have extended
the deadline to 31 July. The three winners will still be announced
in the October issue. The guidelines and applications forms are
available on our website (www.australianbookreview.com.au).
Gift
subscriptions
In recent months we have invited current subscribers, on renewing
their subscription, to direct a free six-month subscription to
a friend or colleague. Many of you have done so already. This
special offer ends on August 31.
See
you again in September!
Just a reminder, this is one of our two double issues for the
year (the other being December–January).
AUSTRALIAN
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