Reviews & Interviews
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Critical responses to Martin Johnston’s work
Christopher Pollnitz, ‘The New Mannerism’, Southerly, no. 3, September 1978. Re-published in Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, ed. John Tranter, St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1993, pp 276-278.
L. V. Kepert, ‘Poet’s first novel lives on sparkle’, Sun-Herald, 2 January 1984.
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, ‘Martin Johnston Fly Casting’, Scripsi, Vol 3, no. 1, April 1985. In Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, pp 276-278.
Martin Duwell, ‘Exiled by Circumstance and Inclination: Martin Johnston, 1947–1990’, Editions, no. 8/9, September 1990. In Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, Press, pp 273–276.
Gig Ryan, ‘Martin Johnston (1947–1990)’, Scripsi, Vol 7 no. 3, 1992, pp 229–244.
John Tranter, Introduction, Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, 1993, pp xiii-xxvi.
Ken Bolton, review of Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, Overland, Summer 1993.
Don Anderson, ‘Young Martin, backwards and forwards’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 1993.
Mark Roberts, ‘Towards a New Diversity: Martin Johnston and the New Australian Poetry’, Island, no. 58,1994, pp 60–63.
Andrew Bullen, ‘The Codebreaker’s Pilgrimage’, Eureka Street, June-July 1994, pp 48-50.
Petro Alexiou ‘A Talk on Martin Johnston’, Jacket no. 11, April 2000, jacketmagazine.com.
Michael Farrell, ‘Late Night Nerves: Poets of the 1980s and 90s’, Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, Vol 18, no. 2, 2018.
Ann Vickery, ‘When Person and Public are Hard to Square: Transnational Singularity in Martin Johnston’s “In Transit”’, Deakin University, JASAL, Vol 18, no. 2, 2018.
John Hawke, ‘Infinite shall never meet: Perspective in Martin Johnston’s “In the Refectory of the Ognissanti”’, Monash University, JASAL, Vol 18, no. 2, 2018.
James Halford, extract from ‘Reading the South Through Northern Eyes: Jorge Luis Borges’s Australian Reception, 1962–2016’, Australian Literary Studies, Volume 33, No.Volume 33, no. 2, 9 July 2018.
2 — 9 July 2018Julian Tompkin, ‘In Transit: Migration and Memory in the Writings of Martin Johnston and Dimitris Tsaloumas’, University of Western Australia, JASAL, Vol 19, no. 1, 2019.
Sarah Holland-Batt, ‘Amid the Useless, but Beautiful’, The Australian, 5 December, 2020
John Hawke, ‘Love is the Subject’, Australian Book Review, December 2020, no. 427.
Martin Duwell, ‘Rereadings V: Martin Johnston: The Typewriter Considered as a Bee-Trap’, Australian Poetry Review (online), 1 January 2021, available at http://www.australianpoetryreview.com.au/2021/01/rereadings-v-martin-johnston-the-typewriter-considered-as-a-bee-trap/
Aidan Coleman, ‘Steps to Parnassus: Martin Johnston’s The Sea-Cucumber,’ Westerly Magazine, 66.1, 30 June 2021
Aidan Coleman, Colorado Review, April 2022, available at https://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/reviews/beautiful-objects/
Nadia Wheatley, ‘Martin Johnston: Man of two nations’, Antipodes, October, 2023
Interviews with Martin Johnston
AUDIO RECORDINGS
Nadia Wheatley interviewing Martin Johnston for ‘George Johnston and Charmian Clift’, Radio Helicon, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1 February 1986.
Martin Johnston interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection, 23 June, 1980 [sound recording] TRC 1/1165-1166. (Catalogue information). During this interview, Martin reads the following poems: Airport; Biography; The Scattering Layer; Dross; Cave; The House; Spinoza; Letter to Sylvia Plath; The Sea-Cucumber; The Cafe of Situations; Esprit de l’Escalier; and The Homecoming.
To listen, go to the following National Library of Australia link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-610335420/listen
WRITTEN INTERVIEWS & TRANSCRIPTS
Interview with Inez Baranay on Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyperreality in Ariel Book News, August 1987, pp 5-7.
Interview with John Tranter, ‘A Beautiful but Useless Game’, Makar 14, no. 2 (June 1980). Edited version published in Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1993, pp 251–255.
Interview with Hazel de Berg, National Library of Australia, Oral History Section, De Berg Tapes (tape no. 1165). Transcript of a recording made by Martin Johnston on 23 June 1980. Published in Martin Johnston: Selected Poems & Prose, ed. John Tranter, St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1993, pp 256-265.
Interview with Hazel de Berg, Continued (tape no. 1166).
Juli Clarke, ‘Martin Works with Rhyme and Reason’, Sunday Telegraph, 8 August 1971, p 53
Further Reading
REVIEWS
Thomas Shapcott. ‘Present Poetry’, Australian Book Review 11, June 1972, pp 249-250. Review of shadowmass (with ten other books).
Kris Hemensley, Untitled review, Earth Ship, no. 42, Winter 1984, pp 68-69. Review of Ithaka.
Thomas Shapcott, ‘New Poets’, Australian Book Review, no. 1, June 1978, pp 19-20. Review of The Sea-Cucumber.
John Tranter, ‘Poems of Subtle Perception and Ruthless Intellect’. National Times, 26 August 1978, p 42. Review of The Sea-Cucumber (with two other books).
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, ‘Life Rehearsed in Lyric Forms’, Age, 2 September 1978, p 21. Review of The Sea-Cucumber (with three other books).
Rae Desmond Jones, ‘Reality Transformed by Art’, Makar 14, no. 2, June 1980, pp 59-61. Review of The Sea-Cucumber (with one other book).
Nadia Wheatley, ‘Who’s Playing Chess'?’. Sydney Morning Herald, 7 January 1984, p 34. Review of Cicada Gambit.
Michael Heyward, ‘Martin Johnston Typewriter Gambits’, Scripsi 3, no. 2/3 1985, pp 223-228. Review of The Typewriter Considered as a Bee-Trap.
Evan Jones, ‘Two Literate Poets: Fulfilment and a Jerky Start’, Australian Book Review, no. 77, December 1985/January 1986, pp 41-42. Review of The Typewriter Considered as a Bee-Trap.
Stephen Edgar, ‘Points of Entry’, Island, Summer/Autumn, 1986, pp 25-26. Review of The Typewriter Considered as a Bee-Trap.
INTERVIEWS (print)
Margaret Jones, ‘A Chance to Write - in a Room of his Own’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 1973, p 18.
John M Wright, ‘Writer’s New Gambit Pays Off’, Weekend Australian, pp 28-29 April 1984.
INTERVIEWS (audio)
John Tranter, Interview with Martin Johnston, 10 January 1989. Broadcast on ‘Helicon’, ABC Radio National, 11 August 1991.