Review of Against the Grain: Beverley Farmer's Writing, by Lyn Jacobs

Abstract

Like Lyn Jacobs I like Beverley Farmer's writing, having followed it since Alone and having taught, most recently, The Seal Woman where my twenty-something honours students expressed horror that middle-aged people might continue to engage in ill-advised love affairs to the accompaniment of rather a lot of wine! My students said more than this, but I engage in anecdote to illustrate that Farmer's subversive and original writing arouses heightened responses, which inevitably concerns Jacobs in her book. By now, as well as reviews and interviews there are several substantial articles on Farmer, but this is the first book-length study and for this reason alone it is timely and welcome.