Author(s): ANGELA BENNIE

Australiana

"Creme de la Phlegm: Unforgettable Australian Reviews" is a landmark collection of the famous and the infamous Australian reviews which range across literature, theatre, the visual arts and film. In an eloquent and biting essay, Angela Bennie looks to the wholeheartedly negative review over the last 50 years: and the motives of reviewers who proclaim a critical flop. Beginning with A.D. Hope's seminal 'fanging' of Patrick White in 1956, Bennie casts light on the quest for a national identity, the modernist and postmodernist debates which altered the conversation about art and culture, as well as the seismic fallout around the 'history wars' in the 1990s. "Creme de la Phlegm" chronicles the highs and the all time lows of Australia's reviewing culture.