AustLit

'This study investigates the poetic foundation of David Malouf's poetry and prose published from 1960 to 1982. Its purpose is to extend reading strategies so that the nature of his poetic and its formative influence are more fully appreciated. Its thesis is that Malouf explores and tests with increasing confidence and daring a poetic imagination that he believes must meet the demands of the times. Malouf's work is placed in relation to Wallace Stevens' belief that the poetic imagination should "push back against the pressure of reality", a view discussed by Seamus Heaney in 'The Redress of Poetry'. Malouf's work shows the influence not only of Stevens but also Rilke and contemporary American poetry of "deep image". The Australian context of Malouf's work is considered in relation to Judith Wright's essay 'The Writer and the Crisis' and the poetry of Malouf's contemporaries. Details of the manuscript development of his first four novels show Malouf's steps towards a clearer representation of his holistic, post-romantic vision. His correspondence with the poet Judith Rodriguez provides useful insights into his purposes. Theories and research about brain functions, the nature of intelligence and learning provide an important international context in the 1960s and 1970s, given Malouf's interest in how meaning forms from perception and experience. The thesis offers a model of poetic learning that highlights the interplay of dialectically opposed ways of forming meaning and points to the importance for Malouf of holding diverse states of mind together through the poetic imaginary.' from Author's abstract http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/5139 sighted 14/7/2009