Welcome to GR Online, a series of short-form articles that take aim at the moving target of contemporary culture as it’s whisked along the guide rails of innovations in digital media, globalisation and late-stage capitalism.
On ‘Nine Parts of Desire’, by Geraldine Brooks
‘THE DAILY LIFE of Muslim women.’ ‘An understanding of the women behind the veils.’ ‘A compelling insight into women...
On ‘Just Macbeth!’, by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
JUST MACBETH! IS Shakespeare like I’ve never read him before. It’s raucous and disgusting, immature and absurd. Kings sing...
On ‘Faith Singer’, by Rosie Scott
I’ve already lived several lifetimes and out of it all learned a few things – among them the necessity...
On ‘The Harp in the South’, by Ruth Park
IN OCTOBER 1945, just three months after Japan’s surrender ended Australia’s role in the Second World War, the Sydney...
On ‘Coonardoo’, by Katharine Susannah Prichard
COONARDOO TAKES PLACE in 1929 at Wytaliba, a remote cattle station in the north of Western Australia. It is a...
On ‘Radiance’, by Louis Nowra
DRAMA IS NOT about what gets said and done but what gets understood. The ostensible content of a play...
On ‘Carry Me Down’, by MJ Hyland
MARIA (MJ) HYLAND'S extraordinary second novel, Carry Me Down, was published in 2006, two years after her debut, How...
On ‘The Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature’
WHAT IS AN anthology? The term comes from two Greek words meaning ‘flower’ and ‘collection’. Anthologies, then, are collections...
On ‘Hotel Sorrento’, by Hannie Rayson
HANNIE RAYSON'S WELL-loved Hotel Sorrento, which premiered onstage in 1991 and was made into a feature film in 1995,...
On ‘Collected Stories’, by Janette Turner Hospital
AS I WRITE this essay the cicadas are shrill outside. The air is heavy and even in my cool...
On ‘Remember Ronald Ryan’, by Barry Dickins
'PLEASE ADMIT THE bearer…to the execution of Ronald Joseph Ryan, on 3rd February, 1967.’ This invitation, received by journalists covering...
The new wave
LATELY, THREE LOCALLY made films have escaped Adelaide for the world, all directed by women. Sophie Hyde’s 52 Tuesdays,...
