Andrew Riemer
Andrew Riemer, a former academic, is a critic, writer and translator. He was for many years the Chief Book Reviewer of The Sydney Morning Herald. He lives in Sydney.
All essays by Andrew Riemer
Semiologists Beware: The 7th Function of Language
It would be wrong, however, to regard Binet’s novel as not much more than a sophisticated and hugely entertaining send-up. He sees, certainly, the absurd aspects of semiotics and the other ‘sciences’ his characters profess. But he also registers their allure and fascination. The clue to discovering what that allure and fascination might be has to do with the particular source of his preoccupations. When Theory crossed the English Channel, the Atlantic and then travelled to the Antipodes, it left behind its French playfulness.
Cloud Cuckoo Land Pastoral: The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
In place of the dystopian world of post-Soviet Moscow in Dog Boy, Hornung’s new novel land us in a cloud cuckoo land pastoral. Of course, pastorals, no matter how Arcadian, always have their darker sides. This is no exception. The Last Garden begins with a murder-suicide.’
