John Slavin

‘Callas’, a new poem by John Slavin

December 2004–January 2005, no. 267 • 01 December 2004

The statues in the ancient museumThe ones of young women, the kohlDripping tears of the centuries fromTheir luminous eyes, smiling thatDetached ironic smile never doleful,That’s what gave her a gift for it. ... (read more)

John Slavin reviews ‘Australian Cinema After Mabo’ by Felicity Collins and Therese Davis

February 2005, no. 268 • 01 February 2005

  This book fulfils two objectives. Within popular culture’s contribution to concepts of national identity,  it energises a gap left in cinema studies by taking the contemporary discussion from the 1990s through to Japanese Story (Brooks, 2003). Secondly, it attempts to place films produced in the last ten years within the context of what the authors clearly believe to be ... (read more)

John Slavin reviews ‘Timing Is Everything: A life backstage at the opera’ by Moffatt Oxenbould

February 2006, no. 278 • 01 February 2006

To state the case bluntly, is there in fact any place for opera in the twenty-first century? What is the use of opera? Many would say that it is a moribund art form, traditional and arthritic, class-ridden, a minority and élitist pursuit of an arcane society harbouring secret rituals in the mode of cabbalists with their adherence to vision and the genealogy of seers. My questions suggest some kin ... (read more)

John Slavin reviews 'The Memory of Tides' by Angelo Loukakis

November 2006, no. 286 • 01 November 2006

The Battle of Crete began on the morning of 20 May 1941 with a new kind of warfare. German paratrooper battalions either parachuted or rode gliders down onto a defending force of British, ANZAC and Greek troops. The invasion took two weeks of bloody fighting to achieve its objectives. It was not, as Greek-Australian writer, Angelo Loukakis has his Australian soldier, Vic Stockton describe it: ‘F ... (read more)

‘Shirley Hazzard in Naples’ by John Slavin

August 2004, no. 263 • 01 August 2004

Visiting Shirley Hazzard in Italy is like entering a Hazzard novel. She lives in an apartment within the grounds of a splendid villa at Posillipo. The rooms are cool against the summer sun, and when you step onto her terrace the vista and the light are dazzling. Scarlet bougainvillea falls in twisted festoons. From the terrace, she surveys the breathtaking scope of the Bay of Naples. To the left, ... (read more)