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Red Hot Notes edited by Carmel Bird

by
April 1996, no. 179

Red Hot Notes edited by Carmel Bird

UQP, $16.95 pb, 181 pp

Red Hot Notes edited by Carmel Bird

by
April 1996, no. 179

Were it not for the timing, it would be easy to speculate that this richly evocative collection of pieces about music was the inspiration for Jane Campion’s glorious film, The Piano. So many elements of the film – the dominant image of the beached piano, the powerful undertow of sexual passion, even the unexpected violence-are present in this book in the most uncanny similitude. I should not be surprised since Carmel Bird has already displayed her uneasy fascination with the film in her dazzling essay ‘Freedom of Speech’ (in Columbus’ Blindness and Other Essays) and in her introduction to Red Hot Notes she admits that the film was a catalyst for the idea of various writers exploring ‘the complex feelings that surround, and embed themselves in, the human response to music’.

Cassandra Pybus reviews 'Red Hot Notes' edited by Carmel Bird

Red Hot Notes

edited by Carmel Bird

UQP, $16.95 pb, 181 pp

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