Little Idiosyncrasies and Large Language ModelsLarge language models and digital interfaces promise to streamline our circuits of communication, but at what cost? Reviewing Rie Qudan and trends in Japanese fiction, Rebecca Suter notes that some humans still defy standard operating procedure.Rebecca Suter29 Aug. 2025
In Praise of DournessWhat challenge does the climate crisis pose to the way we think? Drawing on scientific and literary sources, Joshua Wodak prescribes a dour-ism that does not merely endure, but is alive to the uncertainties that condition human existence.Joshua Wodak29 Aug. 2025
A Playful Re-enactmentThrough the lens of her own experiences in literary translation, Isabelle Li considers Jen Calleja’s playful, pointed commentary on life as a translator: the fun and games, but also, the classism and unfair working conditions.Isabelle Li22 Aug. 2025
The Three-Body ProblemBecause of the way it has come to be taught, poetry is often thought of as an elite genre. Reviewing Peter Kirkpatrick’s The Wild Reciter, Philip Mead traces poetry’s long and continuing association with popular culture, from song lyrics to slams....Philip Mead21 Aug. 2025
In Defence of CreativityWhat role does creativity have to play in medicine? Reviewing two recent books on the psychoanalyst Marion Milner, Ellen Smith shows what Milner’s experiments in creativity tell us about the flaws in contemporary mental health care.Ellen Smith19 Sept. 2025
Translating the TranscendentMay Ngo considers the spiritual truths probed by Jumaana Abdu’s Translations, and what it misses despite its aspirations, in light of the theological novel. As Ngo argues, fiction that reaches for the divine must remain in touch with the concrete....May Ngo16 Sept. 2025
‘Infinite Resources, Secrets, Plans, Schemes’Reviewing Charmian Clift’s ‘new novel’, Beth McLean examines the author’s ability to invest the everyday with opulence – and the tribute Clift pays to the unsung alchemic skill of women in the domestic sphere.Beth McLean12 Sept. 2025
Bastards!From economic rationalism to libertarianism, neoliberalism appears under many guises. Reviewing Quinn Slobodian’s new book on neoliberal thought, James Ley shows that what its founders share with latter-day legatees is a commitment to inequality.James Ley5 Sept. 2025
In Praise of DournessWhat challenge does the climate crisis pose to the way we think? Drawing on scientific and literary sources, Joshua Wodak prescribes a dour-ism that does not merely endure, but is alive to the uncertainties that condition human existence.Joshua Wodak29 Aug. 2025
David Malouf’s SurprisesAn internationally acclaimed novelist, David Malouf has also sustained a long and distinguished career as a poet. In this essay, Nicholas Jose charts the affinities and concerns of a poetic corpus that continues to surprise after six decades.Nicholas Jose25 July. 2025
The Fire Dragon, Between Myths and RealitiesQuah Ee Ling charts the changing connotations of the term ‘dragon lady’ from its provenance in Buddhist sutras onwards, exposing in the process the ethno-cultural and gendered myths that have shaped the life stories of Asian women migrants.Quah Ee Ling16 July. 2025
The Shadow and the AcolyteBraiding the story of a literary friendship that soured with an account of changes at Australian universities since the 1970s, Joseph Steinberg shows the role that tertiary education has played in shaping writers’ work and sense of vocation.Joseph Steinberg30 May. 2025
Living it Line by LineHossein Asgari and Kim Cheng Boey talk about the novels they have each written about a real-life poet: respectively, the mid-twentieth-century Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad and the Tang-dynasty Chinese poet Du Fu.Hossein Asgari, Kim Cheng Boey13 June. 2025
The Poet EatersIn 2015, Ben Etherington published ‘The Poet Tasters’, a forensic critique of Australian poetry reviewing. Poet and poetry podcaster Alice Allan talks to James Jiang about the enduring impact of Etherington’s essay ten years (and 300 episodes) on....Alice Allan, James Jiang10 June. 2025
The Vietnamese TurnThe SRB talks to Nathalie Nguyen about the changing historiography of the Vietnam War, with greater recognition of Vietnamese-language sources and the role of South Vietnam, and the personal stakes of this history for the Vietnamese diaspora. Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen29 Apr. 2025
Settling ScoresIn the wake of the women’s World Cup, Ruth McHugh-Dillon speaks to Ellen van Neerven about playing sport on Indigenous land and the challenges – of classification and acknowledgement – laid down by their latest book, Personal Score.Ruth McHugh-Dillon, Ellen van Neerven28 Aug. 2023
