Les Murray: A Life in Progress

by Peter F. Alexander

This is the first biography of one of Australia's finest poets--a famed lyricist, polyglot, and polemicist. Alexander draws on extensive interviews with Murray to reveal how this complex man endured the harshest and most anti-intellectual of childhoods to develop into one of the most famous
poets writing in English today.

Genres: Biography

392 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2000

About the author

Alexander, P. F.
Alexander, P. F. (Peter F.)
Alexander, Peter
Alexander, Peter F.
Alexander, Peter Fraser, 1949-

Peter F. Alexander was educated at the universities of the Witwatersrand, Leeds and Cambridge. He has written biographies of Roy Campbell, William Plomer, and Alan Paton (all published by OUP). He has also edited a selection of the verse of Roy Campbell for OUP, and has collaborated in a four-volume edition of all Campbell's writing. He is Emeritus Professor, School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Reviews

[Heather Boundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2000 this biography of the Australian poet Les Murray is compelling reading. As Murray died in 2019, it is an unfinished work as we are missing the last two decades of his life. (I wonder if Alexander has written an updated version?) A fascinating man and life in so many ways. Born into poverty in NSW and losing his mother at 12, being on the autism spectrum and suffering extreme bullying at school all combine to result in this complex man who is able to write sublime poetry. One cannot help but admire his endurance, though what it would have been like to be married to him I wonder? Valerie must have been some kind of saint! It is not often a biography is a page turner, but i loved this!