Cover design by Liz Nicholson
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St Suniti and the Dragon

by Suniti Namjoshi

Once she had reconciled herself to the view that a garden snake, however beautiful, was not evil, Suniti decided to set about the matter in a more businesslike way. She would put an ad in the paper.

ELDERLY GENTLEWOMAN SEEKS TO MAKE A BARGAIN WITH THE DEVIL.

St Suniti and the Dragon is an extended fable. The central theme, of how to live decently and honourably in a cruel and irrational world, is explored through related themes such as sainthood, love, and the anticipation of death. Ironic and fantastic, the imagery ranges from talking flowers to instructive angels, from literary monsters to religious icons. The fables are formed by song, diaglogue, narrative, dramatic monologue and lyric, as well as everyday forms such as postcards, prayers and diary entries. The resulting sequence is at once elegant and elegaic, fearful and funny. It is, in fact, a thoroughly modern fable.

I can think of plenty of adjectives to describe St Suniti and the Dragon, but not a noun to go with them. It's hilarious, witty, elegantly written, hugely inventive, fantastic, energetic, up to the minute, analytic, touching - and so on - With work as original as this, it's easier to fling words at it than to say what it is or what it does.

- U A Fanthorpe

Suniti Namjoshi has three other books published by Spinifex Press: Goja, Feminist Fables and Building Babel. She is also a contributor to CyberFeminism.

Visit Suniti's Home Page to find out more about her.

Read the abstracts from thePolitics of Cyberfeminism Conference at which Suniti Namjoshi and other Spinifex authors Susan Hawthorne, Renate Klein, Dale Spender, Rye Senjen, Jane Guthrey, Beryl Fletcher and Suniti Namjoshi were speakers, on Saturday 21 September 1996 at Deakin University.

1875559183 144pp 198 x 128
Territory: ANZ and Foreign language
All rights: Spinifex Press
India: Penguin
Korea: Chaek Se Sang

women@spinifexpress.com.au