Review Article - Booktalk

(The West Australian Saturday 25 January 2003)

Westerly still makes a mark

Small literary magazines have played a big role in Australia's cultural and social history. In most cases, their influence has been far out of proportion to their circulation.

For example, Max Harris' obscure surrealist magazine Angry Penguins had a big impact in the 1940s when it carried the Ern Malley 'poems'. They were a clever hoax by poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart in protest against the pretentiousness of some artistic modernism.

The furore that followed led to court cases concerning obscenity and censorship, as well as literary debates that have lasted until today.

Of the other small magazines which have made their marks, including Overland and Meanjin, both of which seem increasingly irrelevant to all but a very narrow audienceóa local product, Westerly, published through the University of WA, continues to offer quality work.

Published as a quarterly for many years, in more recent times it has appeared as an annual in book-size format, a digest of poetry, criticism and fiction.

The 2002 issue is adorned by a charming photograph of two of WA's most famous literary identities, Peter Cowan and Dorothy Hewitt, clothed in academic robes on receiving their honorary doctorates in the late 1990s. literary critic Bruce Bennett writes two finely crafted obituaries on them.

There is also a reflective piece, How Deep Does the Yellow Sand Go? By local novelist Joan London on the impact of the WA landscape and history on her work and sensibility. Robert Drewe, another with strong WA connections, tackles similar themes in his intriguing talk Where the Yellow Sand Stops.

On the poetry front there are engaging offerings from Jack Hibberd, Roland Leach and the great Bruce Dawe, among a range of other styles and voices.

Six short stories add to the reading fare. And there are three comprehensive overviews of what has been on offer over the past 12 months in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Slip this issue of Westerly into your beach bag. For my money, it is material that will engage a reader in a number of settings beyond academia.

Rod Moran.