The Writing Life

by David Malouf

This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on September 22, 2000. The length of the article is 2805 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation Details A WRITING LIFE. David Malouf World Literature Today (Refereed) September 22, 2000 University of Oklahoma 74 4 701Distributed by Thomson Gale

Genres: Writing, Essays

352 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2014

About the author

David Malouf is a celebrated Australian poet, novelist, librettist, playwright, and essayist whose work has garnered international acclaim. Known for his lyrical prose and explorations of identity, memory, and place, Malouf began his literary career in poetry before gaining recognition for his fiction. His 1990 novel The Great World won the Miles Franklin Award and several other major prizes, while Remembering Babylon (1993) earned a Booker Prize nomination and multiple international honors.
Malouf has taught at universities in Australia and the UK, delivered the prestigious Boyer Lectures, and written libretti for acclaimed operas. Born in Brisbane to a Lebanese father and a mother of Sephardi Jewish heritage, he draws on both Australian and European influences in his work. He is widely regarded as one of Australia's most important literary voices and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of literary essays which David Malouf wrote for newspapers, journals and introductions to books. Some I had read, others were new to me, so there were some reading ideas there. One I had not even heard of, “The young desire” it by Kenneth Mackenzie, so I will eventually chase up that one. His essays on Proust, Hugo, Kafka, Kipling, The Tempest, Mann, Patrick White, Frederic Manning and Les Murray, amongst others, gave valuable insights from a great writer.

[Lee Kofman · Rating 3 out of 5]

No doubt Malouf has a fascinating intellect. I never warmed to his novels, but this collection of essays appealed to me more. I particularly enjoyed his reflection on writing and the writer's place in society. I can also see he is a fine literary critic, his reading of Jane Eyre was a particular standout for me, but many of his reviews here were of books I never read. Even though sometimes I enjoy reading criticism of works I'm not familiar with, this wasn't the case here and I think this has much to do with the overall flaw (by my standards) of this book - it is too impersonal. It's not like I needed some specific confession, but Malouf as an individual remained utterly elusive, present largely as a voice of disembodied authority. As a rule, I find such narration too flat to enjoy.

[David Winger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful meditation on what it means to be both a writer and a reader. Feels particularly germane in the age of LLMs.