Llena, Carmen Zamorano. “The location of identity in the interstitial spaces: the poetry of Fleur Adcock in a multicultural Britain:” JNZL: Journal of New Zealand Literature 18-19 (2000): 161+. General One File. Web. 14 April 2013. http://go/galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA204544264&v=2.1&u=sain85351&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w Postdoctoral researcher with a BA in English

Fleur Adcock’s poems have increasingly exposed her sense of an identity split between New Zealand and Britain. Throughout the article, Zamorano goes into detail about the comments and criticism made about Adcock’s poetry and where she gets her inspiration. There is no longer a single British culture and it can be argued that Adcock writing from her own experiences is one of the exceptions within the hybrid of New Zealand-British culture. This change in British culture also created confusion with Adcock identifying herself.

‘Unexpected visit’ was written about Adcock’s deeper desire to be free of society. Zamorano makes note of how Adcock’s experience of culture shock created difficulties for her to find her identity, which is what she talks about in ‘Unexpected Visit’. Throughout the article, Zamorano mentions the struggle of how London is foreign and New Zealand is home, a struggle also mentioned in Adcock’s poem.

An interesting point made in the article was the inspiration for Adcock’s poem ‘Instead of an Interview’. Before leaving New Zealand, Adcock told her niece “home is London; and England, Ireland, Europe’, which is a line located in the last stanza of the poem. What’s misleading is that the poem comes across as Adcock’s way of saying she does not like to talk or be interviewed but rather to show her emotions through her poems. The reality is that this poem was written about her niece and explaining to her what home is.

Zamorano’s article helps create a better understanding and appreciation for Adcock’s work. Through her poems, Adcock offers “snapshots” of her family past, and the struggles of family, marriage, life and death. This article gives a sense of sympathy for Adcock and admiration for her success she has had through her poems.