The Legal Labyrinth

The Kisch case and other reflections on law and literature
by Nicholas Hasluck

Publication Details:
15 September 2003
Paperback 254pp
RRP: $24.95
ISBN: 1 74008 240 0

When left-wing journalist Egon Kisch - the 'rampaging reporter' - was refused entry to Australia in 1934, the ban led to a fierce debate about immigration controls that remains relevant today.

In The Legal Labyrinth Nicholas Hasluck revisits the Kisch case and the steps he took in writing a novel about the affair. The diary he kept on a recent visit to Vietnam casts fresh light on Kisch's links to South East Asia.

A Kafkaesque quality pervades Kisch's misadventures 'down under'. This sets the scene for sharp reflections on law and literature, and the nature of the 'legal labyrinth'.

<< back