Short Stories

Five-Finger Exercise with Doctors and Insects

Item: A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies
Author: José Borghino

by José Borghino •

October 2003, no. 255

A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies by John Murray

Viking, $29.95 pb, 274 pp

Short Stories

Five-Finger Exercise with Doctors and Insects

by José Borghino •

October 2003, no. 255

Am I alone in becoming suspicious when a writer’s previous profession is the focus of a publicist’s blurb? To me, it smacks of desperation. ‘I can’t think of anything to say about this writing,’ such an approach confesses, ‘but let me tell you about the writer’s stellar career as a motor mechanic, or their prowess in tae kwon do, or their interest in growing orchids.’ Call me an old New Critic, but I prefer to read the work and to let the author lurk darkly in the background.

José Borghino

José Borghino has managed government, media, and public relations for the Australian Publishers Association since 2005. He lectures in Literary Journalism at Sydney University, and is a regular book reviewer for The Australian, The Australian Literary Review, and the Sydney Morning Herald. He was the Editor of the online news and commentary site NewMatilda.com from 2005 to 2007. José Borghino was the Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors from 1998 to 2004; and before that worked for the Literature Board of the Australia Council from 1990 to 1998. He was Chair of the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity from 2003 to 2004 and Chair of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Committee in 2000. He was the book reviews editor for marie claire magazine and the founding editor of both EDITIONS Review magazine and Education Australia magazine.