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Kenneth Slessor Kenneth Slessor i(A11083 works by) (birth name: Kenneth Adolf Schlösser) (a.k.a. Kenneth Adolf Slessor)
Born: Established: 27 Mar 1901 Orange, Orange area, Bathurst - Orange area, Central West NSW, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 30 Jun 1971 Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Kenneth Slessor's family moved from Orange to Sydney in 1903. Slessor was a voracious reader and began writing poetry as a child. He was educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) where he edited the school magazine. He gained first class honours in English in the Leaving Certificate in 1918, then learned typing and shorthand before joining the Sydney Sun in 1920 as a cadet journalist. Slessor's first publication was a poem about war in the Bulletin in 1917 and in 1918 he won the Victoria League's prize for a patriotic poem 'Jerusalem Set Free'. More poems followed in literary magazines, but he had not yet employed the modern forms for which he is known. In 1923 he collaborated with Norman and Jack Lindsay on the short-lived literary magazine, Vision. His edition (with Jack Lindsay) of Poetry in Australia also appeared that year, the first of several similar anthologies he would edit over the next forty years.

After a period in Melbourne in 1924-1925, writing for the Herald and sub-editing Punch, Slessor returned to Sydney. He joined the staff of Smith's Weekly in 1927, holding the position of editor from 1935 to 1940. In the Weekly he published light verse and regular articles and reviews. He describes the period as 'the happiest chapter of my existence'. In 1940 Slessor was appointed official war correspondent. He served in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Syria until 1943, and in Papua and New Guinea in 1943-1944. After the war he returned to editorship of the Sun.

Journalism remained Slessor's dominant occupation throughout his life, but in the years between 1924 and 1948, he wrote some of the most important poems in the history of Australian literature. Slessor's first book appeared in 1924, followed by six more volumes over the next twenty years. His poetry explores the themes of art, nature, beauty and time in the Romantic-Symbolist tradition, attracting the widely held view that he ushered in the modern era of Australian poetry. His poem 'Five Bells' is widely regarded as his most important poem, and the war poem 'Beach Burial' is frequently anthologised. In addition to his poetry, he wrote a large amount of highly regarded literary criticism.

Slessor published little or no new work after 1948, but his reputation continued to grow. For the next thirty years he continued to work as a journalist and remained involved in Australian literature, editing Southerly between 1956 and 1962, and serving on the advisory board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund. An opponent of censorship, he agreed to serve on the National Literature Board of Review in 1967. He was an active and influential participant in Sydney's literary culture, strengthened by his presidency of the Sydney Journalists Club between 1956-65.

Slessor was married twice and had one child. Suffering from heart disease and other health problems late in life, he died in Sydney in 1971.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Southerly 1939 Sydney : English Association (Sydney Branch) , 1939- Z954791 1939 periodical (291 issues)

Founded in 1923 as a branch of the London-based English Association, the Sydney branch of the English Association (known until 1944 as the Australian English Association) pursued the primary objective of preserving the purity of English in both written and spoken forms. In 1936, a four-page 'Bulletin' was produced to promote these objectives. This format was expanded three years later to include articles, reviews, and news about the association in a 40-page journal called Southerly. The title was designed to suggest the relation that the journal had with English literary traditions. It also evoked the refreshing winds of Sydney's 'southerly buster' that sometimes develop into a destructive natural force. The significance of the title was augmented when the now familiar Hugh McCrae (q.v.) sketch of Auster, spirit of the South Wind, was first displayed as a motif in 1946.

R. G. Howarth (q.v.), a lecturer in English at the University of Sydney and one of the leading proponents of the journal, was appointed founding editor, a position he held until 1955. The first volumes of Southerly were completely funded by the Australian English Association. The editors and contributors worked in an honorary capacity, but the costs of production remained a financial burden. This burden was relieved in 1944 when the publishing company Angus & Robertson agreed to take responsibility for the cost and management of publication and distribution. Two years later they also took responsibility for printing Southerly at their Halstead Press, an arrangement that continued until the early 1960s. The English Association received further financial relief in 1952 when it was awarded the first of its ongoing literary grants from the Australian government.

Howarth's editorial policy delivered articles and reviews on both Australian and overseas literature, but this policy drew criticism from members of the Jindyworobak movement for its lack of focus on the local product. Howarth defended his editorial policy in the November issue of 1941, stating that he wished the journal to avoid regionalism or parochialism, thus 'maintaining the cultural good relations that have hitherto subsisted between the mother and the daughter countries.' In time, this policy became less stringent as Australian literature became more widely accepted as a serious field of study.

The physical size of Southerly changed several times during its lifetime, and the number of pages devoted to Australian literature steadily increased from the 40-page issues of the 1940s to regular issues of more than 200 pages in the 1990s. The influence of Howarth's early editorial policies lingered into the 1970s. During the 1940s it was not unusual to see articles on Australian literature beside articles on European poetry and fiction. In 1950, one issue printed the poems of a number of contemporary English poets, but during the 1950s the number of articles on non-Australian subjects gradually decreased. By 1963 readers could expect a strong concentration on Australian writing in major articles by academic writers. But the 'Books Received' column continued to announce the arrival of British and European books, and reviews of such books were common until 1973.

When Howarth left Australia in 1956 for an academic position in South Africa, Southerly was set to change its focus and format. Kenneth Slessor (q.v.) was appointed the second editor of Southerly and responded immediately to its flagging reputation. The critic and literary historian H. M. Green (q.v.) had recently described the journal as 'dull' and 'unadventurous'. To address this, Slessor implemented a number of changes to the format and content, bringing a less academic tone to the journal by inviting contributions from his journalist colleagues and high-profile figures such as the Prime Minister Robert Menzies (q.v.). Most significantly, he added the sub-title 'A Review of Australian Literature', signalling an intention to break from Howarth's early editorial policy.

The support from Angus & Robertson ceased during Slessor's term as editor because of the publisher's reluctance to continue providing labour and equipment at the Halstead Press for no charge. Slessor resigned in frustration after consistent delays and the subsequent absence of issues for 1960. Walter Stone (q.v.) acted as editor following Slessor's departure, printing Southerly at his Wentworth Press, and later taking responsibility for subscriptions and distribution. During the 1970s, the English Association accepted more control of the publishing activities of Southerly, assuming full managerial responsibility after 1985. As in its foundation years, the journal survived the financial difficulties of these transitions with much unpaid labour by members of the English Association.

In 1963, G. A. Wilkes (q.v.) began his long term as editor of Southerly, presiding over a period that saw continued change in the study of Australian literature. The foundation professor of Australian literature at Sydney University, Wilkes broadened the scope of the journal by seeking contributors outside of the Sydney circle of writers employed by Howarth and Slessor. Assisted by the growing university system, this new editorial approach stimulated academic criticism of Australian literature and enabled junior academics to achieve wider exposure. In addition to the development of criticism, Southerly continued to attract contributions of fiction and poetry from some of Australia's best writers. After G. A. Wilkes' retirement in 1987, Elizabeth Webby (q.v.), Professor of Australian literature at Sydney University, edited Southerly until 1999.

In 2000, Southerly renewed its association with the Halstead Press which once again accepted responsibility for subscriptions, publication and distribution. This arrangement allowed the new editors, Noel Rowe (q.v.) and David Brooks (q.v.), to concentrate on the planning and contents of each issue, beginning a new phase in the journal's ongoing contribution to the study of Australian literature.

2020 recipient The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund Cultural Fund Grants for Organisations Writing Through Fences – contributors’ fees for new writing by refugee writers

Known archival holdings

National Library of Australia (ACT)
Albinski 207-208
Last amended 2 Oct 2012 13:57:51
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