Matthew Thompson spoke to Sydney Review of Books editor James Ley about his new book Running With The Blood God. Listen to the full interview, download the audio or watch a video excerpt.
Related Essays
On The Genius of Les Murray
But why is this word “Genius” being bandied around so much in poetry here, in Australia in particular – the noun in particular — not so much the adjective which very loosely is a synonym for ‘ingenious’ meaning “well thought out”. Genius, the noun sounds more like it belongs to the era of the Industrial Revolution, in an age that included the steam-whistle and train shovel — when industrialists & merchants took 2 round cast-iron plates and had them riveted together — perhaps they were merely being “engine-ious”. Was Ned Kelly a Genius?’
A Letter to a Student
‘A student’s complaint about what is disparagingly called “rote learning” touched off some preoccupations that seem to go quite some way back with me. For some reason the topic of memory has always been centrally important to any thinking I have done about culture, politics, and society.’