Car Maintenance, Explosives and Love, and Other Contemporary Lesbian Writing
What is mythic? / What is true? Asks the opening anonymous poet of this collection. Lesbians have become cultural amphibians. This anthology reflects the varied tongues, the inventiveness of lesbian culture and the diversity of lesbian writing. It explores the mechanics of daily life, the explosiveness of relationships and the geography of love. Here is toughness, conviction, perseverance and passion, writing which makes a difference. Contributors include Stella Duffy, Lisa Bellear, Donna Jackson, Gill Hanscombe, Marou Izumo, Helen Hodgamn, Sandra Shotlander, Sue Fitchett, Sandy Jeffs, Marg Vandeleur, Annamarie Jagose, Finola Moorhead, Susan Hampton, Renée, Miriel Lenore and more.
1997 | ISBN 9781875559626 | Paperback | 200 x 130 mm | 353 pp | VERY LOW STOCK
Reviews
It is the sense of place imbued in these pieces which strikes me as being the greatest strength of Car Maintenance, Explosives and Love … these writings … transport the reader from the confines of their chair to whatever locale in which the author has set her work. For this reader at least, those transforming moments are what makes good writing enjoyable.
–Richard Watts
Definitely recommended.
–Jessica Hubbard, Critic, NZ
American lesbians should all be looking further west and south, if this Australian anthology is any indication of the overall quality of lesbian writing Down Under... The best story may be Susan Sayer's odd family history, "Xanthippe," a cross between the fiction of Angela Carter and Kathryn Davis, with its startling images (her father is described as being "as long-tongued as Granny, and she could lick her own eye") and rude, playful language... It's an unusually impressive collection, full of experiment and promise.
–Amazon Customer, Regina Marler
I think the book is best considered as a contribution to an ongoing dialogue of lesbian writers, a way of dejando constancia (leaving a record) of lesbian life, lives and culture. And as such, it is valuable and necessarily of its time.
–writereaderly