Ten Australian stories and how they were written. Stories and essays by ten talented writers, including Maria Takolander, Tony Birch and Jennifer Mills. Introduction by Amanda Lohrey.
Cracking The Spine is the most innovative resource in Australian literature I have seen in many years. An anthology of contemporary short stories, each with a commentary by their authors, the collection breaks down the wall between the creative and discursive, the imagistic and the expository.
Filled with cutting-edge, innovative writers and armed with an expansive definition of what it is to be an Australian, this work will be at once accessible to undergraduate students and informative and challenging for their teachers.
-----
Helen Elliot, writing for The Australian, said
"This slender book stole on to my desk without fanfare. Cracking the Spine, with its cover of flat grey on flatter grey and fire-engine red lettering, is striving towards anti-allure. Modesty would be its hallmark.
But crack the spine and there are these 10 immodestly brilliant stories. Each is followed by an essay in which the writer details the creative process that resulted in the story. Without exception they are illuminating."
"Only rarely does a reviewer come across a perfect collection. If this is the state of Australian short fiction the horizon looks spacious. Modesty, the commonality of voice in these stories and essays, is inappropriate. Everyone who is interested in the depth, breadth, sophistication and vitality of writing today needs this slender little book on their desk."
