Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%
Print this page

Teeming leeches

The perils of experimentalism
by
May 2021, no. 431

Dizzy Limits: Recent experiments in Australian nonfiction by Brow Books

$29.99 pb, 440 pp

Teeming leeches

The perils of experimentalism
by
May 2021, no. 431

‘Experimental writing’ can sometimes seem like a wastebasket diagnosis for any text that defies categorisation. Even when used precisely, it begs certain questions. Isn’t all creative writing ‘experimental’ to some degree? Isn’t the trick to conceal the experimentation? And what relationship does it bear to the ‘avant-garde’? If avant-gardism implies a radical philosophy of art, where does ‘experimentalism’ fit today? Is it not part of the valorisation of novelty, of innovation for innovation’s sake, which has gripped the literary establishment in recent decades? (When books like Milkman [2018] and Ducks, Newburyport [2019] fall victim to the cosiest of literary prizes, where have the real radicals gone?)

James Antoniou reviews 'Dizzy Limits: Recent experiments in Australian nonfiction' by Brow Books

Dizzy Limits: Recent experiments in Australian nonfiction

by Brow Books

$29.99 pb, 440 pp

You May Also Like