AustLit logo

AustLit

NLA image of person
Murray Bail Murray Bail i(A7391 works by)
Born: Established: 1941 Adelaide, South Australia, ;
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Life's Little Ironies Murray Bail , 2021 extract autobiography (He.)
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27 February 2021; (p. 14)
1 6 y separately published work icon He. Murray Bail , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2021 20533393 2021 single work autobiography

'And in the middle in khaki shorts, dusty knees, is he. Aged twelve he already has a certain earnestness, the solemnity, trying to comprehend what is incomprehensible, ‘he wouldn’t know what day it is’.

'He. is an elusive, elliptical, often beautiful thread of observations and memories. It is not autobiography, or even memoir, but a portrait of a figure shown to be passing through time and circumstances.

'In vignettes, sometimes mere fragments, we glimpse moments and lives—parents, teachers, wives; in Bombay of the 1960s, Paris and London of the 1970s, Melbourne and Sydney—as this figure remembers the years.

'These are Murray Bail’s last reflections on his life: the final book from the acclaimed author of such classic novels as The Pages, Eucalyptus (winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award) and Homesickness.' (Publication summary)
1 Interesting Murray Bail , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Griffith Review , no. 51 2016; (p. 321-326) 'Not many people like me. I have no friends. And I would like to know why. People begin friendly enough, at least not unfriendly, and nobody is rude to me, yet none have taken the next step, which is taking an interest in what I have to say, how I manage to live. I don't know what I have said or not said, or what it is about my manner that has put them off. It doesn't take long before I see there is little of hope of them becoming my friend, or friendly towards me, let alone getting to see them again, already they are casting around at other people for possible friendship. People don't seek me out. They don't need me. People quickly lose interest in me. I don't find other people especially interesting either, I can't off-hand think of one I'd like to see again, but at least I stay in the one spot and keep talking - I make an effort. I have things to say about many different topics! There is plenty to notice in a face, including mine. I'd say that's something most people haven't picked up, don't bother about, although it's an area I've been concentrating on for years. If I'm talking to somebody I make a point of paying attention, and yet I notice they don't look at me. People are concerned with themselves, nothing much more. For some time now I have made a practice of looking closely at the face of whoever I am talking to. I am put off by those men and women who have the deep vertical lines running down from the eyes, giving them a permanently worn disappointed look, in men mostly, as if they've thrown in the towel. I don't just scan a face, I have been known to stare too much. Often I finish their sentences for them. On first meeting when the slate is clean I notice their politeness. This is how we are all supposed to be. It doesn't take long for their attention to shift and they move away. And then I never hear from them again...' (Publication abstract)
1 Murray Bail Murray Bail , 2016 extract novel (Eucalyptus : A Novel)
— Appears in: A Single Tree : Voices from the Bush 2016; (p. 19-20)
1 Pierre Ryckmans Murray Bail , 2014 single work obituary (for Pierre Ryckmans )
— Appears in: The Monthly , October no. 105 2014; (p. 18, 20)
1 At Eighty Murray Bail , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 100 2014; (p. 38-39)
5 15 y separately published work icon The Voyage Murray Bail , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2012 Z1889738 2012 single work novel 'Frank Delage, piano manufacturer from Sydney, travels to Vienna, a city immersed in music, to present the Delage concert grand. He hopes to impress with its technical precision, its improvement on the old pianos of Europe.

'How could he not know his piano is all wrong for Vienna? Perhaps he should have tried Berlin. But a chance meeting with Amalia von Schalla brings new possibilities for Delage—connections, her daughter Elisabeth, and an avant garde composer. Now travelling home, on a container ship, with Elisabeth, the real story is about to begin.' (From the publisher's website.)
1 Did I Know You? Murray Bail , 2012 single work short story
— Appears in: Griffith Review , Spring no. 37 2012; (p. 43-48)
1 1 The Voyage Murray Bail , 2010 extract novel (The Voyage)
— Appears in: The Monthly , December 2010 - January 2011 no. 63 2010; (p. 62-65)
1 The Only Things I Remember from School Murray Bail , 2010 single work autobiography
— Appears in: The Monthly , July no. 58 2010; (p. 13-14) The Best Australian Essays 2010 2010; (p. 225-228)
1 Ian Fairweather and Abstraction Murray Bail , 2009 single work essay
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2009 2009; (p. 280-285)
1 Tapping a Deep Well Murray Bail , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 21-22 February 2009; (p. 15)
4 31 y separately published work icon The Pages Murray Bail , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2008 Z1510310 2008 single work novel

'On a family sheep station in western New South Wales, a brother and sister work the property while their reclusive brother, Wesley Antill, spends years toiling away in one of the sheds, writing his philosophy.

'Now he has died. Erica, a philosopher, is sent from Sydney to appraise his life's work. Accompanying her is Sophie, who needs distracting from a string of failed relationships. Her field is psychoanalysis.

'The pages Wesley wrote lie untouched in the shed, just as he left them. What will they reveal? Was he a genius? These turn out to be only a couple of the questions in the air. How will the visit change the lives of Erica and Sophie?' (Publisher's blurb)
1 1 The Pages Murray Bail , 2005-2006 extract novel (The Pages)
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 20 December-10 January vol. 123 no. 6501 2005-2006; (p. 46-57)
1 Continental Shift Murray Bail , 2005 single work essay
— Appears in: The Guardian , 10 September 2005; Bail writes about the pleasures of reading European literature in translation.
1 10 y separately published work icon Notebooks 1970-2003 Murray Bail , Milsons Point : Random House Australia , 2005 Z1218000 2005 selected work diary prose A rare and fascinating glimpse into a writer's life, taken from the working notebooks of Murray Bail when he was an unknown writer living in London from 1970-74 and Sydney 1988-2003 after the publication of Eucalyptus and other novels. Overheard conversations, aphorisms, dazzling observations of people and places, musings on art, literature and landscape, and fragments of books and stories, Notebooks is a stark and exhilarating offering from the heart and mind of a celebrated novelist. (Publisher's blurb)
1 I Am Murray Bail , 2003 single work autobiography
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2003 2003; (p. 262-272)
1 y separately published work icon Camouflage and Other Stories Murray Bail , London : Vintage UK , 2003 18389495 2003 selected work short story
1 The Europeans Murray Bail , 2002 single work essay
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2002 2002; (p. 309-318)
1 Ned Kelly : Murderer, Thief and Conceptual Artist Murray Bail , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 16 February 2002; (p. 2)
X