Paul Keating
GREG BARRETT
“If the voice is there, I’ll read anything,” Lewis Lapham, former editor of the American literary magazine Harper’s, once said. “I’ll read, for example, about giant ants in Peru. Or schemes in the White House basement. The subject is less important than what I can sense as the integrity of the voice.”
This Christmas, there are plenty of loud and articulate voices beckoning from our bookshop’s shelves. It has been a particularly strong year for the essay genre; I suspect economic pressures have forced publishers to revisit their writers’ oeuvre, pull out the best of past performances, and bundle them together into a new publication rather than commission new work.
Some publishers, such as Allen and Unwin, have been very creative in their interpretation of the genre.
Former prime minister Paul Keating’s reputation as a big-picture speechmaker prompted commissioning editors to wonder whether his speeches, when brought together, might work as a book.
The result is After Words: The Post-Prime Ministerial Speeches, a new hardback that is certain to be on bestsellers list this Christmas. Publisher Morry Schwartz’s contribution to Australian essay writing continues with Black Inc.’s release of The Best Australian Essays 2011.
Each year Schwartz invites a guest editor to reflects upon a range of previously published work and choose those he or she considers the strongest.
“I hope this collection tells a story of the past year,” writes this year’s editor, Ramona Koval, “as told by Australian writers looking inward and outwards, or by others looking at Australia or at Australian people.”
Essay collections, traditionally, are seen as ideal gifts for older men. Their audience is much broader, however, and can include anyone who loves a big idea and appreciates an articulate and concise argument.
I firmly believe that English, journalism and media students also benefit profoundly from having these collections.
Meanwhile, older readers will enjoy time out with a favourite commentator whose views they either share or challenge.
AFTER WORDS: THE POST-PRIME MINISTERIAL SPEECHES
by Paul Keating
$59.99 (Allen and Unwin)
Australia’s 24th prime minister has become one of the country’s most sought-after public speakers. This collection – from speeches Keating has delivered since leaving politics in 1996 – is in three categories: history culture and social policy; international relations and foreign policy; and Australian and international economic policy.
Our three favourite pieces: Keating’s launch of The History Wars in 2003; Peace and Prosperity, delivered at the 2008 Melbourne Writers Festival; the eulogy for pianist Geoffrey Tozer, 2009.
Essays
THE BEST AUSTRALIAN ESSAYS 2011
edited by Ramona Koval
» $29.95 (Black Inc.)
An annual highlight of the local publishing calendar, this important series again presents thoughtful and evocative essays by some of Australia’s finest writers. It was a year of major world events, Koval reflects in her introduction, “but some of the essays I’ve chosen concern private moments, written from a need to explain, to understand or to celebrate”. Selected authors include Richard Flanagan, Morris Lurie, M.J. Hyland, Gail Bell, David Malouf, Amanda Lohrey and Gillian Mears.
Our three favourite pieces: Anna Krien on the AFL’s sex scandals; Anthony Lane discusses the News of the World phone-hacking scandal; the Julian Assange profile by Robert Manne.
A POINT OF VIEW
by Clive James
» $32.99 (Picador)
Since 2007, Britain’s BBC Radio 4 has run a series called A Point of View. The segment features presenters talking for 10?minutes on any subject that recently has provoked their outrage or tickled their funny bone. Australian-born Clive James proved a popular audience favourite. His wit and smart delivery endeared him to many and allowed them access to even the most difficult concepts. This new paperback edition of his 60 scripts sees James wander a diverse subject patch, from former judge Marcus Einfeld’s downfall to the behaviour of soccer fans to people who cycle to work, Robert Mugabe, movie “icons” and what does the term mean, and Harry Potter envy.
Our three favourite pieces: London’s Olympic bid; the gaffes of modern political leaders; political change following the Barack Obama US presidential victory.
PANIC
by David Marr
» $29.95 (Black Inc.)
This new assembly of Sydney journalist and author David Marr’s pieces deals with a nation’s fear about unknowns, change and perceived enemies. “It came to me when I was reporting on the mad uproar over Bill Henson’s photographs a couple of years ago that I’ve been writing about panic all my career,” Marr explains in his foreword. “How they are whipped up, do their worst and disappear, leaving only a wreckage behind.” All of our nation’s bogeymen are there, including asylum seekers, the Left, drugs, race riots and Pauline Hanson.
Our three favourite pieces: The Hero of Cronulla, in which radio personality Alan Jones plays the lead role; Marr’s 2009 visit to the Christmas Island detention centre; his brilliant account of the hysteria that surrounded Bill Henson’s images of naked teenagers.
ARGUABLY
by Christopher Hitchens
» $32.99 (Allen and Unwin)
We recommend Arguably as a must-buy to anyone who is a fan of the Vanity Fair contributor or who thrives on an astute writer’s observations of the world around us. This hefty paperback represents a 40-year career of prying into government affairs and shining the investigative journalist’s torch into dark corners. Along the way, Hitchens dissects world leaders, acknowledges heroes, considers history and its lessons and ponders the future. Hitchens’ appalling ill-health is not a reason to buy the book; it should be remembered, however, that the world of commentary and debate will be a poorer place without him.
Our three favourite pieces: Imagining Hitler (1999); The Perils of Partition (2003); North Korea: A Nation of Racist Dwarves (2010).