Crème 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. 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 AD Hope's seminal "fanging" of Patrick White in 1956 Bennie casts light on the quest for a national identity, the modernist and postmodernist debates, as well as the seismic fallout around the "history wars" in the 1990s. Crème de la Phlegm chronicles the highs and the all time lows of Australia's reviewing culture.
