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October 2020, no. 425

October 2020, no. 425

Welcome to the October issue! Our commentary material continues to grow. This month we have four major features on issues of great moment: race and the US presidential election; the pandemic and political freedom; and Twitter and cancel culture. Michael L. Ondaatje reflects on Trump’s failed courtship of black voters. Timothy J. Lynch reviews three scathing books about Trump and finds them equally wanting in terms of any explanations for Trump’s political predominance. Journalist Johanna Leggatt laments the threat posed by Twitter to the work, freedom, and reputations of journalists and writers. Finally, Paul Muldoon – in our cover piece – looks at the relationship between freedom and security and the complexities of the Victorian government’s response to the pandemic. We also review new novels by Ali Smith, Gail Jones and Steven Conte. Jane Sullivan considers Alex Miller’s memoir of Max. And Richard Fidler is our Open Page subject!

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Full Contents

Literary Studies

The Mystery of Charles Dickens by A.N. Wilson

Poetry

Tilt by Kate Lilley

Change Machine by Jaya Savige

Belated recognition of Australian prose poetry

by Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton
Environmental Studies

Body Count by Paddy Manning & Fire by Stephen J. Pyne

Biography

Max by Alex Miller

Memoir

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

Biography

Vida: A woman for our time by Jacqueline Kent

Short Stories

Broken Rules and Other Stories by Barry Lee Thompson

Fiction

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Fiction

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux

Fiction

Bluebird by Malcolm Knox

Fiction

Trio by William Boyd

Fiction

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Fiction

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte

Fiction

Our Shadows by Gail Jones

Australian History

Dunera Lives, Volume II by Ken Inglis et al.

Fiction

Summer by Ali Smith

Advances

News from ABR

Letters

Letters to the Editor

by Kyle Wilson, Lindy Warrell, David Malone, Al MacDonald, Roger Rees