Ben Etherington

Ben Etherington is Associate Professor in English in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and a member of the Writing & Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University.

Works By Ben Etherington

The Living and the Undead
Most critics are aware that they work within the endlessly relative landscape of literary history. Once a writer’s place in the landscape is secured, it is not easy to budge and this shapes future literary judgements.
28 Apr. 2020
Craveñho’s Universe
'The first question to ask of the Craven phenomenon is not "why?" but "how?"' Critic Watch on performative criticism.
27 Oct. 2017
This Little University Went To Market
‘Quite a few countries now use income contingent loans for student fees, but only in Australia do they hold such an unimpeachable place in ongoing debates about the financial and social logic of higher education.'
21 June. 2016
The Poet Tasters
No one believes that most Australian poetry volumes are a couple of edits or a tempered excess away from being a perfect version of themselves, but this is what, en masse, the reviews tell us. A biddable reader will have the impression that all de...
29 Jan. 2015
Universities and the Block
Pyne is attempting to divert the function and aims of knowledge in our society. His policy clinches and fully institutionalises the worldview that understands education entirely as a private good. The public benefits of major scientific discovery,...
23 May. 2014
The Real Deal: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
How do we understand the critical response to Hannah Kent's Burial Rites? In order to distinguish authentic aesthetic judgements amongst the reviews it will help to consider the way the advance for Burial Rites fits into the logic of trade book pu...
8 Nov. 2013
Road to omission
How do you review the 'experimental novel'? Critic Watch turns its gaze to the reviews of Anthony Macris' Great Western Highway: A Love Story (Capital, Volume One, Part Two). With a response from Jeffrey Poacher.
19 July. 2013
Critic Watch: Summer Review
Hobbyist doggerel and Booty Calls: Ben Etherington on Quadrant, government subsidies, and the Books of the Year. Plus a response from Jennifer Maiden.
29 Mar. 2013
The Brain Feign: All That I Am by Anna Funder
Is there an 'epidemic of niceness' in book reviewing? Ben Etherington examines the critical responses to Anna Funder's All That I Am.
28 Jan. 2013

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Ben Etherington

Works By Ben Etherington

The Living and the Undead

Craveñho’s Universe

This Little University Went To Market

The Poet Tasters

Universities and the Block

The Real Deal: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Road to omission

Critic Watch: Summer Review

The Brain Feign: All That I Am by Anna Funder