Eureka Street

Keywords: Writing

ARTS AND CULTURE

The strange case of Australian noir
- Gillian Bouras
- 24 May 2024
What's the appeal in Australian noir crime fiction? The genre has always been popular in Australia, and Australian writers of crime fiction have always had plenty of material to draw on. Led by authors like Garry Disher and Jane Harper, it has experienced something of a renaissance during the last decade.
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RELIGION

How Jung turned grief into a philosophy of life
- Barry Gittins
- 21 May 2024
When friends faced a heartbreaking loss, they found solace in Carl Jung's writings, granting them permission to grieve and hope. Given his life of contradictions, how should we evaluate Jung's contributions and his complex relationship with religious faith?
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Nam Le's 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
- Peter Craven
- 05 April 2024
1 Comment
Nam Le is one of the strangest writers in the history of Australian literature and is also one of the most incandescently brilliant — which is very weird if you bear in mind that his primary claim to legendary status is a book of short fiction published in 2008. With 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, Le returns with a new work that encapsulates the brilliance and complexity that fans and critics have come to expect.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Reading the places we know
- Julian Butler
- 29 January 2024
2 Comments
In fiction, place often feels secondary. But when place comes alive in writing, it is a delight. When it’s a place that has shaped you, or continues to shape you, then your own mythology expands.
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MEDIA

The whole truth?
- Gillian Bouras
- 18 January 2024
6 Comments
Once upon a time it was fairly easy to distinguish fact from fiction, but now journalists in particular regularly merge the two. We are now forced to cope with notions such as alternative facts and the post-truth era. I, for one, cope badly with both, with this twisting of what I would like to be an essential and straightforward matter.
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AUSTRALIA

The AI overmind: Can machines capture the human quirk?
- Andrew Hamilton
- 09 November 2023
4 Comments
Can the essence of human frailty—our inconsistencies, our biases, our passions—really be replicated in ones and zeros? And if so, what becomes of the human voice once the machines learn to speak?
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Bridging histories: In conversation with Tony Birch
- Paul Mitchell
- 23 June 2023
1 Comment
Renowned author and academic Tony Birch is known for his insightful and compelling narrative explorations into societal issues like marginalisation, Aboriginal identity and racial struggles. In conversation with Paul Mitchell, Birch discusses his work, the unique intersection of academia and creative writing, and the profound impact of historical dispossession.
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AUSTRALIA

Does ChatGPT have a place in the classroom?
- Sarah Klenbort
- 22 February 2023
3 Comments
Does ChatGPT have a place in the classroom? Educators worldwide are grappling with this new ubiquitous technology, fearing not only that it will facilitate cheating, but may create an over-dependence leading to cognitive decline. But the same was once said about writing.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Seeking meaning behind the monsters in Dahmer
- Paul Mitchell
- 27 October 2022
1 Comment
At the end of the third episode of the Netflix biopic Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, as the ‘Watch Next Episode’ timer ran down, I turned it off and haven’t returned. At time of writing, Dahmer was the number three-ranked show on Netflix Australia. Why are viewers willing to watch? And against the scale of such horror, can there be any redemption?
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Insider outsider
- Emma Wilkins
- 27 September 2022
2 Comments
There's an assumption that writers shouldn’t be writing about groups they don't belong to, as if this couldn’t be done with honesty and insight, respect and restraint. Difficult, yes, but impossible? Whether in fiction or non-fiction, outsiders might misunderstand and misrepresent the people they depict, but sometimes, insiders will too. Sometimes, outsiders will lack insight, but sometimes, when they’re curious, attentive, when they do not overreach, they’ll capture truth.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The book corner: Telltale
- Gillian Bouras
- 02 September 2022
1 Comment
Australian cultural icon and erstwhile publisher Hilary McPhee calls Telltale ‘a rare thing, an ingenious memoir,’ and she is right. It is interesting and reassuring to note that books about reading and recollections of reading habits seem to be proliferating. Perhaps such writing is a defence measure against worrying developments like universities in England, for example, axing their English Literature courses.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Why does poetry matter?
- Andrew Hamilton
- 25 August 2022
11 Comments
In most circles poetry doesn’t matter. It doesn’t put bread on the table, nor raise people to revolt nor even make news unless a grizzled footballer is outed for secretly writing poems. Even in churches poems and hymns are altered to improve their orthodoxy in matters of faith, gender, race or modernity, but rarely their poetic quality.
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