Axel Clark’s is the first full-length biography of Christopher Brennan, and its publication has drawn attention to what was a lamentable deficiency in Australian literary studies.

Clark has assembled a veritable goldmine of interesting material, and I found the details of Brennan’s life made compelling reading. In particular, what Clark’s book does for me and other readers of the book I’ve spoken to recently is to demystify the shadowy, aloof figure of Brennan – one which might have been constructed as an extension of the obscure, symbolist, incantatory poetry.