AustLit

Published during Shapiro's time in Australia. Includes first publication of the poem later published as 'Melbourne'.

Author's Preface: A personal book is made for personal readers. In an age of wars, in war-time, and in the midst of war, such a volume is almost certain to be condemned, or what is just as serious to the writer, ignored. We have been brought up to shun the lyrical ego, to look at ourselves from without, to make a science of our acts. The poet in particular has reacted to a revolution in knowledge by developing the most advanced self-consciousness possible, an intolerance for his own personaility that is just short of madness...The isolated sentences and paragraphs are extracted from letters written during the progress of the book. I have endeavoured to bind the prose poems to the lyrics by means of these clues, and through them and the general arrangement to provide some sequence of narrative. (p.5).