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Image courtesy of Black Inc.
y separately published work icon Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems selected work   poetry   prose  
  • Author:agent Les Murray http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les
Issue Details: First known date: 1997... 1997 Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Killing the Black Dog is Les Murray's courageous account of his struggle with depression, accompanied by poems specially selected by the author. Since the first edition appeared in 1997, hosts of readers have drawn insight from his account of the disease, its social effects and its origins in his family's history.

'As Murray writes in this revised and updated edition, the title was premature. He had mistaken a remission for a cure, and thought himself freed from the severe depressive illness which had twice invaded his life. Now, in a new afterword, he describes a relapse, but also shares some of the fruits of his further contemplation. He shows gratitude for help previously unacknowledged, and describes how patches of daylight now balance out those of darkness in his life. A further half dozen poems have been added, reflecting a more complex understanding of depression and its role in the lives of its sufferers.' (From Black Inc.'s website, abstract for the revised edition.)

Contents

* Contents derived from the Leichhardt, Glebe - Leichhardt - Balmain area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,:Federation Press , 1997 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Les Murray and the Black Dog Killing the Black Dog, Les Murray , single work prose

''On the last day of 1985, I went home to live in Bunyah, the farming valley I had left some twenty-nine years earlier. My wife and our younger children followed two days later … at last I was going home, to care for my father in his old age and to live in the place from which I'd always felt displaced. What I didn't know was that I was heading home in order to go mad.'

'Killing the Black Dog is Les Murray's frank and courageous account of his struggle with depression. Since this essay first appeared, hosts of readers have drawn insight from his account of the disease, its social effects and its origins in his family's history. Murray describes how patches of daylight now balance out those of darkness in his life.' (Publication summary)

 (p. 1-24)
A Reticencei"After a silver summer", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 23-24)
An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbowi"The word goes round Repins, the murmur goes round Lorenzinis,", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 27-28)
Midsummer Icei"Remember how I used", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 29)
A Torturer's Apprenticeshipi"Those years trapped in a middling cream town", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 30)
An Erai"The poor were fat and the rich were lean.", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 31)
The Past Ever Presenti"Love is always an awarded thing", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 31)
Where Humans Can't Leave and Mustn't Complaini"Where humans can't leave, and mustn't complain,", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 32)
Rock Musici"Sex is a Nazi. The students all knew", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 33)
Cornichei"I work all day and hardly drink at all.", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 34-35)
On Home Beachesi"Back, in my fifties, fatter than I was then,", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 36)
The Beneficiariesi"Higamus hogamus", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 36)
Performancei"I starred last night, I shone:", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 37)
Memories of the Height-to-Weight Ratioi"I was a translator in the Institute back", Les Murray , single work poetry biography (p. 38-39)
A Stage of Gentrificationi"Most culture has been an East German plastic bag, pulled over our heads, stifling and wet.", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 40)
Burning Wanti"From just on puberty, I lived in funeral:", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 41-42)
Demoi"No. Not from me. Never.", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 43-44)
The Head-Spideri"Where I lived once, a roller-coaster's range", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 45)
One Kneeling, One Looking Downi"Half-buried timbers chained corduroy", Les Murray , single work poetry (p. 46-47)
Travels with John Hunteri"We who travel between worlds", Les Murray , single work poetry biography (p. 48-51)
VIEW ENTIRE CONTENTS ( works)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Den Svarta Hunden : Essä Och Dikter
Language: Swedish
    • Stockholm,
      c
      Sweden,
      c
      Scandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,      :       Bromberg ,       2008 .
      image of person or book cover 8776589682184265815.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 78p.
      ISBN: 9789173370738, 9173370738
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

Generation of ’68 and a Culture of Revolution Corey Wakeling , 2024 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry 2024; (p. 134-150)

'This chapter outlines how the 1970s brought radical expression, new explorations of poetic persona, and increasing belief in the poet’s role to advocate for rights and freedoms. It argues that anthologies seeking to capture the zeitgeist failed to do so, sometimes due to using frameworks borrowed from North America that elided local diversity. The chapter asserts that small press culture constituted a provisional, heterogeneous commons that undid traditional definitions of authorship and form, and offered a space to air the previously taboo. It traces the turn to America as well as to popular culture, other media, and documentary. Through an examination of Michael Dransfield’s reception, it demonstrates how umbrella terms delimit complex individual poetics while demonstrating affiliations in Dransfield’s self-examination with contemporaries like Pam Brown, Nigel Roberts, and Vicki Viidkikas. The chapter also considers the impact of the first anthology of women’s poetry, Mother, I’m Rooted. It redresses the elision of its editor, Kate Jennings, from other anthologies and critical framings of the period, as well as the marginalisation of Kevin Gilbert.'

Source: Abstract.
Seelenarbeit 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Der Spiegel , 27 August no. 35 2012; (p. 126)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Big Les! Michael Hofmann , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Poetry , October vol. 199 no. 1 2011; (p. 57-67)
— Review of Taller When Prone Les Murray , 2010 selected work poetry ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
[Review] Taller When Prone and Killing the Black Dog Fred Muratori , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Library Journal , 1 March vol. 136 no. 4 2011; (p. 79-80)
— Review of Taller When Prone Les Murray , 2010 selected work poetry ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
The Angry Muse Meghan O'Rourke , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 3 April 2011; (p. 16)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Learning the Black Dog Inside and Releasing Its Ghosts Ian McFarlane , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 16)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Once Bitten Andrew Stephens , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 October 2009; (p. 18)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Off the Shelf : Memoir Lorien Kaye , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 17 October 2009; (p. 28)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Parry and Front: Les Murray Revisits the Black Dog Chris Wallace-Crabbe , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 316 2009; (p. 26-27)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
[Review] Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Nicola Robinson , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 89 no. 3 2009; (p. 34)
— Review of Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Transmuting the Black Dog : The Mob and the Body in the Poetry of Les Murray Gary Clark , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 19-24)
Les Murray's "Narrowspeak" Peter Pierce , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 2 2001; (p. 76-86) Examines Murray's prose which he has spoken of as "Narrowspeak", in comparison to the "Wholespeak" of poetry.
Generation of ’68 and a Culture of Revolution Corey Wakeling , 2024 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry 2024; (p. 134-150)

'This chapter outlines how the 1970s brought radical expression, new explorations of poetic persona, and increasing belief in the poet’s role to advocate for rights and freedoms. It argues that anthologies seeking to capture the zeitgeist failed to do so, sometimes due to using frameworks borrowed from North America that elided local diversity. The chapter asserts that small press culture constituted a provisional, heterogeneous commons that undid traditional definitions of authorship and form, and offered a space to air the previously taboo. It traces the turn to America as well as to popular culture, other media, and documentary. Through an examination of Michael Dransfield’s reception, it demonstrates how umbrella terms delimit complex individual poetics while demonstrating affiliations in Dransfield’s self-examination with contemporaries like Pam Brown, Nigel Roberts, and Vicki Viidkikas. The chapter also considers the impact of the first anthology of women’s poetry, Mother, I’m Rooted. It redresses the elision of its editor, Kate Jennings, from other anthologies and critical framings of the period, as well as the marginalisation of Kevin Gilbert.'

Source: Abstract.
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (17)
Last amended 1 May 2019 13:46:00
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