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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A children’s game in an overgrown garden is the first hint of a troubling presence in the old house ‘Eldershaw’. But is the haunting a memory of the past inscribed in the stonework or a discord the occupants have brought with them?
'At the heart of Stephen Edgar’s compelling new collection are three interlinked narrative poems ranging forwards and backwards in time from the Second World War to the present day. Drawing on personal experience, reimagined and transformed through the lens of fiction, they enact those charged episodes which shape and scar the lives of several characters. From the dim rooms of ‘Eldershaw’, to the recollected infernos of war, to the uncanny waters of a seaside pool, these narratives affect us with a moving and haunting power.
'The book is completed by sixteen shorter lyrics in Edgar’s more characteristic manner, some glancing at or directly treating themes from the narratives.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Black Pepper Press : Spice and Grit
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Journal , vol. 5 no. 1 2015; (p. 110-121)
— Review of The Hanging of Jean Lee 1998 single work novel ; The Forest Set Out Like the Night 1995 single work poetry ; Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry ; Exhibits of the Sun 2014 selected work poetry ; Paths of Flight 2013 selected work poetry ; Folly and Grief 2006 selected work poetry ; Colombine : New and Selected Poems 2010 selected work poetry ; Wimmera 2009 selected work poetry ; Woodsmoke 2013 selected work poetry -
Sunflowers of a Kind
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2014;
— Review of Exhibits of the Sun 2014 selected work poetry ; Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
A Pair of Ragged Claws
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18-19 October 2014; (p. 17) -
Fractured Narrative of Haunted House Evokes Ghosts of History
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 March 2013; (p. 30-31) The Canberra Times , 9 March 2013; (p. 23)
— Review of Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
Linda Weste Reviews Eldershaw by Stephen Edgar
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , December no. 14 2013;
— Review of Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry
-
Fractured Narrative of Haunted House Evokes Ghosts of History
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 March 2013; (p. 30-31) The Canberra Times , 9 March 2013; (p. 23)
— Review of Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
Lovers Dance Through Time
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 June 2013; (p. 20)
— Review of Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
Linda Weste Reviews Eldershaw by Stephen Edgar
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , December no. 14 2013;
— Review of Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
Sunflowers of a Kind
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2014;
— Review of Exhibits of the Sun 2014 selected work poetry ; Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry -
Black Pepper Press : Spice and Grit
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Journal , vol. 5 no. 1 2015; (p. 110-121)
— Review of The Hanging of Jean Lee 1998 single work novel ; The Forest Set Out Like the Night 1995 single work poetry ; Eldershaw 2012 selected work poetry ; Exhibits of the Sun 2014 selected work poetry ; Paths of Flight 2013 selected work poetry ; Folly and Grief 2006 selected work poetry ; Colombine : New and Selected Poems 2010 selected work poetry ; Wimmera 2009 selected work poetry ; Woodsmoke 2013 selected work poetry -
Aspects of Australian Poetry in 2012
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 68-91)'T he act of reading for appraisal rather than pleasure is a privilege that brings me to a deepened understanding of the contemporary in Australian poetry, the way the past is being framed, its traditions, celebrities and enigmas washed up in new and hybrid appearances or redressed in more conventional, sometimes nimbus forms. Judith Wright wrote that the ‘place to find clues is not in the present, it lies in the past: a shallow past, as all immigrants to Australia know, and all of us are immigrants.’ The discipline of reading to filter such a range of voices underlines my foreignness, making reading akin to translation, whilst reciprocally inviting the reader of this essay to become a foreigner to my assumptions and conclusions.' (Introduction)
-
A Pair of Ragged Claws
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18-19 October 2014; (p. 17)
Awards
- 2014 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Poetry
- 2013 joint winner Colin Roderick Award With Ashley Hay's The Railwayman's Wife.
- 2013 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Judith Wright Calanthe Award