Monkey's Mask: Film, Poetry and the Female Voice, The

In her thoughtful, attentive study dealing directly with a cinematic and a poetic text, Rebecca Louise raises some interesting questions about voice, gender, identity and adaptation, and suggests possibilities for further investigation. It is also a welcome contribution to scholarship that engages with the work of Dorothy Porter, an intelligent, vivid and sensuous writer with expansive interests, whose death from cancer in 2008, at the age of fifty-four, was a significant loss to literature and creative endeavour.
– Philippa Hawker, Foreword to The Monkey's Mask

Everyone intrigued by the verve of Dorothy Porter's life and work will love this book. The Monkey's Mask: Film, Poetry and the Female Voice is alive with responsiveness to both poetry and film, bringing the two into a rich, informed dialogue. Rebecca Louise introduces readers to Porter, the woman and the poet; to the fated and gutsy characters in her celebrated verse novel, The Monkey's Mask; and to Samantha Lang's sexy film adaptation. It's an astute, illuminating book, daring to seek a wide audience without sacrificing depth and reach. Exactly like Dorothy Porter and the ebullient legacy she left us.
– Lyn McCredden, Deakin University

Thinking about the relationship between poetic language and film language is a challenge for writers and moviemakers alike. Rebecca Louise meets this challenge boldly and with passion, in the process opening up some valuable new perspectives on Australian cinema.
– Jake Wilson

Rebecca Louise is well known for running fine women's poetry soirées in Melbourne. In The Monkey's Mask: Film, Poetry and the Female Voice she steps beyond the red velvet curtain to examine the relationship between 'the noir world' of Dorothy Porter's The Monkey's Mask (1994) and its controversial film adaptation by Samantha Lang (2000). Herself a captivating poet, Louise is well equipped to take us on this fascinating critical journey through Lang's filmic realisation of the Australian firebrand poet Porter's tour de force. The resultant poetic-feminine interplay of crime, sex, longing and loss is examined here with forensic care. Highly recommended.
– Jen Jewel Brown