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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Who else, but a writer, is really able to interrogate the work of other writers?
'From Christina Stead, Les Murray and Patrick White to Proust, Shakespeare and Charlotte Bronte, David Malouf reads and examines the work of writers who have challenged, inspired and entertained us for generations. He also explores his own work and the life of the writer, where the ever-present danger is spending too much time talking about writing and not enough doing it.
'These alternative views of some of our best-loved writers and readers will send us scurrying back to read Jane Eyre, Kipling and of course, David Malouf.' (Publication summary)
Notes
-
Author's note: For Deborah Rogers
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Random House Australia
, 2014 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Writer and Reader, single work criticism (p. 1-9)
- David Malouf Asks: What Is Experience, and How Do We Come By It?, extract essay (p. 10-32)
- When the Writer Speaks, single work criticism (p. 33)
- The Most Beautiful and Purest Mirror, single work criticism (p. 52-62)
- The Art of Love, single work criticism (p. 63-70)
- Relative Freedom, single work criticism (p. 71-98)
- Author, Author!, single work criticism (p. 99-122)
- Company of Egos, single work prose (p. 123-138)
- Reading the Signs : Jane Eyre, single work criticism (p. 139-150)
- Drift, Wait, and Obey : Kipling and the Great Game, single work criticism (p. 151-167)
- Marcel Proust - The Book, single work criticism (p. 168-193)
- Proust's Belles Lettres, single work criticism (p. 194-218)
- Kafka, single work criticism (p. 219-238)
- The Middle Parts of Fortune - Her Privates We, single work criticism (p. 239-251)
- The Quick of Things : Lawrence and Walt Whitman, single work criticism (p. 252-276)
-
A Perilous Tension,
extract
criticism
(p. 277-291)'This is an edited version of David Malouf's introduction to the Text Classic edition of Kenneth Mackenzie's The Young Desire It'
- Les Murray : Lunch and Counter Lunch, single work criticism (p. 292-298)
- The Book of Saints : Patrick White's Riders in the Chariot, single work criticism (p. 299-308)
- Christina Stead at Eighty, single work criticism (p. 309-313)
-
The Scintillating Stead,
single work
review
— Review of A Little Tea, a Little Chat 1948 single work novel ; Letty Fox, Her Luck 1946 single work novel ; The People with the Dogs 1952 single work novel ; (p. 314-332)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
-
y
The Writing Life
North Sydney
:
Random House Australia
,
2014
7621998
2014
selected work
criticism
'Who else, but a writer, is really able to interrogate the work of other writers?
'From Christina Stead, Les Murray and Patrick White to Proust, Shakespeare and Charlotte Bronte, David Malouf reads and examines the work of writers who have challenged, inspired and entertained us for generations. He also explores his own work and the life of the writer, where the ever-present danger is spending too much time talking about writing and not enough doing it.
'These alternative views of some of our best-loved writers and readers will send us scurrying back to read Jane Eyre, Such is Life, Kipling and of course, David Malouf. ' (Publication summary)
Works about this Work
-
Provocatively Calm : On David Malouf as Essayist
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 39 2017; ''This article examines the essays of David Malouf, many of which have been recently collected in three thematic volumes: A First Place (2014a), The Writing Life (2014b) and Being There (2015). My starting point is to argue that Malouf’s most important essays are politically charged. As a writer-activist he posits distinctive, sometimes controversial, positions, arguing strongly and passionately for alternative ways of thinking about Australia and the world, and indeed alternative ways for human beings to move through, and participate in, the world. However, Malouf is no firebrand: the tone of his essays is relentlessly calm; he brings together the emphatic and the empathetic, and he still tries to convince the reader. This article focuses on the political implications of Malouf’s calm but opinionated approach to his essays, as well as on how Malouf sets out to persuade readers. (Introduction) -
Well Read
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 10 January 2015; (p. 26)
— Review of Poetry Notebook 2006-2014 2014 selected work essay ; The Writing Life (Book 2) 2014 selected work criticism -
Malouf’s Slow-cooked Recipe for the Literary Life
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18-19 October 2014; (p. 16-17)
— Review of The Writing Life (Book 2) 2014 selected work criticism
-
Malouf’s Slow-cooked Recipe for the Literary Life
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18-19 October 2014; (p. 16-17)
— Review of The Writing Life (Book 2) 2014 selected work criticism -
Well Read
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 10 January 2015; (p. 26)
— Review of Poetry Notebook 2006-2014 2014 selected work essay ; The Writing Life (Book 2) 2014 selected work criticism -
Provocatively Calm : On David Malouf as Essayist
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 39 2017; ''This article examines the essays of David Malouf, many of which have been recently collected in three thematic volumes: A First Place (2014a), The Writing Life (2014b) and Being There (2015). My starting point is to argue that Malouf’s most important essays are politically charged. As a writer-activist he posits distinctive, sometimes controversial, positions, arguing strongly and passionately for alternative ways of thinking about Australia and the world, and indeed alternative ways for human beings to move through, and participate in, the world. However, Malouf is no firebrand: the tone of his essays is relentlessly calm; he brings together the emphatic and the empathetic, and he still tries to convince the reader. This article focuses on the political implications of Malouf’s calm but opinionated approach to his essays, as well as on how Malouf sets out to persuade readers. (Introduction)
Last amended 23 May 2023 13:35:06
