Review of Between Literature and Painting: Three Australian Women Writers, by Roberta Buffi

Abstract

Roberta Buffi's project is concerned with contextualising the writing of Janine Burke, Beverley Farmer and Drusilla Modjeska within the politics and aesthetic theories of the visual arts. All three writers steep their work in the lives of artists or artworks, Burke being an art historian in parallel with writing fiction, and Modjeska's reputation increasingly hinging on her recuperation of the imaginary lives of women artists. In its provision of a thorough reading of the work of these three prolific and intelligent Australian writers, Buffi's work serves as a valuable new addition to Australian literary criticism.