Ben Gook

Ben Gook is Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne and author of Divided Subjects, Invisible Borders: Re-Unified Germany after 1989 (2015). He is working on books about contemporary alienation and disaffection.

Ben Gook reviews ‘Late Fascism: Race, capitalism and the politics of crisis’ by Alberto Toscano

March 2024, no. 462 • 22 February 2024

Already it has been a big year for fascists. On Australia Day, a handful of neo-Nazis from across Australia assembled in Sydney. Dwarfed by tens of thousands of protesters at Invasion Day rallies, the fascist stunt still generated the desired confrontation with the state and response from journalists drawn into the spectacle. Two weeks earlier, German investigative journalists published details of ... (read more)

‘Dear Thomas: The Buddenbrooks of East Germany’ by Ben Gook

ABR Arts • 03 June 2022

Will this biopic be the film that reintroduces German author and filmmaker Thomas Brasch to the world? Perhaps. Something is indeed afoot. Brasch and his family – his three siblings are also notable figures in literature and film – have been the subject of three films in the last decade. Besides Dear Thomas (Lieber Thomas, 2021), currently screening the German Film Festival, we have The Brasch ... (read more)