Texta Book Club: Parade by Rachel Cusk

Rachel Cusk’s masterful exploration of art and identity… There is simply nothing like the fluidity of Rachel Cusk’s language and the endless capacity of her thinking. Gosia Buzzanca

To coincide with the William Robinson: Lessons in Looking exhibition we will be discussing Parade by Rachel Cusk.

From Rachel Cusk, author of the Outline trilogy, comes this startling, exhilarating novel that once again expands the notion of what fiction can be and do.

Midway through his life, the artist G begins to paint upside down. Eventually, he paints his wife upside down. The paintings are a great success. In Paris, a woman is attacked by a stranger in the street. Her attacker flees, but not before turning around to contemplate her victim, like an artist stepping back from a canvas.

At the age of twenty-two, the painter G leaves home for a new life in another country, far from the disapproval of her parents. Her paintings attract the disapproval of the man she later marries. When a mother dies, her children confront her legacy: the stories she told, the roles she assigned to them, the ways she withheld her love. Her death is a kind of freedom.

Parade is a novel that demolishes the conventions of storytelling. It surges past the limits of identity, character, and plot to tell the story of G, an artist whose life contains many lives. Rachel Cusk is a writer and visionary like no other, who turns language upside down to show us our world as it really is.

About Texta

Texta is no ordinary book club; it's for people who love art. We use fiction (mostly) to unpack the subjects, themes and emotions of art. Conversation is never colourless, and is facilitated by our Engagement Coordinator, Renae Belton and University Librarian Nicole Clark.

Texta is held throughout the year on Tuesday evenings. You can listen to this title via Audible

Texta is delivered in partnership with QUT Library and the School of Creative Practice, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice.

For any queries, contact QUT Galleries and Museums on 07 3138 8005 or artmuseum@qut.edu.au