In this
spirited, sentient-rich issue of Landfall
writers and artists engage with, and examine, ‘vital signs’. From the
slogan on a T-shirt in Mexico, to the moon rising over a flag in Turkey, to
haunting evidence of menace and mystery in the Marlborough Sounds, Landfall 227 traverses narratives,
identities and cultures to offer vital engagement with the best and the most
promising in new New Zealand writing.
‘Vital
signs’ is a medical term that refers to the body’s health and well-being as
evidenced by heart rate, respiration, reflexes and body temperature. A suite of
new paintings by Mark Braunias humorously teases out the visceral aspect of the
human condition, while a portfolio of colour photographs by Peter Black
contemplates the healing beauty of landscape.
The
emotional personal associations of significant names – from Charles Dickens’s
Lizzie Hexam to the biblical Solomon – are explored by Nicholas Reid and Murray
Edmond, while Martin Rumsby and Clare Orchard probe the loaded language of
modern communication, from Facebook to video games. The magic of names also
preoccupies Bernadette Hall in an excerpt from a long experimental poem.
Other
featured poets include James Norcliffe and Angela Andrews, and there is new
fiction by
Michelanne Forster, Tracey Slaughter and Chad Taylor, among others. An
extensive essay section is devoted to memoirs, ranging from one writer’s
memories of her father and commemorating Anzac Day, to another’s account of
growing up as a child of parents who ran an Auckland fruit and vege shop in the
golden age of the 1950s, to an essayist’s eloquent anecdotes, reminiscences and
analysis of the ‘coup culture’ in Fiji.
Poet
Gregory O’Brien and geographer Robin Kearns discuss a week spent on the Chatham
Islands, illustrated with O’Brien’s drawings, and critical voices in the
Landfall Review section include Denis Harold discussing ‘a contemporary New
Zealand bestiary’, Emily Brookes on a New Zealander’s quest for the real
Parisian experience, Jack Ross on a new Philip Mann novel, and Sue Wootton on a
new short story collection by Amy Head.
Also
announcing the winners of the Seresin Landfall Residency 2014 and the Caselberg
Trust International Poetry Prize 2014. Landfall
227, edited by David Eggleton, is essential reading for all those
interested in current poetry, prose and art in New Zealand.
Landfall 227: Vital Signs
Edited
by David Eggleton
Release
Date: May 2014
ISBN
978 1 877578-46-5, $30
www.otago.ac.nz/press
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