Dan
@danldixon.bsky.social
academic, writer (Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, The Guardian, Overland, Canberra Times, etc.)
For the ABC, I wrote about the Erin Patterson trial, the Kumanjayi Walker inquest, RecipeTin Eats, justice, and psychoanalysis
“Are you not entertained?”: Why some murder trials captivate our prurient interest — and others don’t - ABC Religion & Ethics
A complex murder trial creates the perfect screen onto which the audience can project their fantasies: to be entertained by Erin Patterson’s trial, we must believe she is a monster, thereby erasing th...
www.abc.net.au
July 14, 2025 at 9:43 AM
For the ABC, I wrote about the Erin Patterson trial, the Kumanjayi Walker inquest, RecipeTin Eats, justice, and psychoanalysis
I reviewed Notes to John by Joan Didion - a therapy journal discovered after Didion’s death - for @thesaturdaypaper.com.au and considered what it means to read a book by Didion not on Didion’s terms:
Notes to John
The cover image of Notes to John, a photograph by Annie Leibovitz, captures Joan Didion seated in an office, gazing up towards the camera in a sweater that engulfs her slender frame. She appears appre...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
July 5, 2025 at 5:32 AM
I reviewed Notes to John by Joan Didion - a therapy journal discovered after Didion’s death - for @thesaturdaypaper.com.au and considered what it means to read a book by Didion not on Didion’s terms:
'Rather than trying to make sense of a life as a coherent series of events, Chameleon conveys the complex formation of a human voice, a literary voice.'
I wrote about Robert Dessaix's new memoir for
@aunz.theconversation.com
I wrote about Robert Dessaix's new memoir for
@aunz.theconversation.com
‘Morocco made us innocent’: the many selves of Robert Dessaix
There is no definitive answer in Chameleon, only the conflicts and inconsistencies in which Dessaix invites us to revel.
theconversation.com
April 14, 2025 at 4:54 AM
'Rather than trying to make sense of a life as a coherent series of events, Chameleon conveys the complex formation of a human voice, a literary voice.'
I wrote about Robert Dessaix's new memoir for
@aunz.theconversation.com
I wrote about Robert Dessaix's new memoir for
@aunz.theconversation.com
As a humanities academic I aspire to the ideal state of experiencing pure understanding while remaining perfectly still, refusing to affect the world around me
December 5, 2024 at 10:35 PM
As a humanities academic I aspire to the ideal state of experiencing pure understanding while remaining perfectly still, refusing to affect the world around me
Gretel and the Great War was the best new book I read this year and it’s absurd that it’s not on every year-end list.
December 5, 2024 at 12:23 AM
Gretel and the Great War was the best new book I read this year and it’s absurd that it’s not on every year-end list.
I wrote about Alan Jones' retirement for the Canberra Times back in 2020
November 18, 2024 at 8:21 PM
I wrote about Alan Jones' retirement for the Canberra Times back in 2020