Poet, literary critic, academic and novelist, Adrian Caesar is probably best known for his award-winning account of the last stages in the journeys of Englishman Robert Scott and Australian Sir Douglas Mawson in 1911–13. The White (1999), interweaving the diaries of the two explorers and his own imaginative reconstructions and reflections, is itself a tour de force of exploration. Antarctica, the canvas on which his heroes pursue their quests, is a dazzling white-out of meaning and purpose. As in the poetry of This Cathedral Grief (2020), Caesar attempts “to wrest meaning from the blank of loss”. It’s instructive to read…