16 November 2004
Bill Manhire, Monty Python and Angels in America
Bill Manhire's latest book "The Wide White Page: Writers Imagine Antarctica", has its finger right on the Zeitgeist's
icy pulse.
An anthology of writing about Antarctica, including among others, an extract from Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning
play, "Angels in America", now a mini-series currently showing on NZ television and the comedy sketch, "Scott of the
Sahara", co-written by Michael Palin who was in the country last week; "The Wide White Page" is a collection that's
uncannily up to the minute.
A treasure trove of fiction about Antarctica, "The Wide White Page" was launched last night by Professor Peter Barrett
of the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington. It's a book which has resulted from many years of
reading and research by its editor, Bill Manhire and ranges in scope from Dante to Pablo Neruda with detours via Monty
Python and Edgar Allan Poe.
The book has already struck a chord internationally with aficionados of the ice. The famed Antarctic website
antarctic-circle.org calls it 'an excellent anthology which fills a real gap. Many of these selections will be new even
to the most knowledgeable Antarctican.'
ENDS