On David Malouf by Nam Le

Author:Nam Le [Le, Nam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Schwartz Publishing Pty. Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PATRIA

There he is, in his fat golden tie, accepting the honour of his lifetime (so far). In his steady, high-pitched voice, David Malouf delivers his Neustadt Lecture at the University of Oklahoma, under the aegis of World Literature Today. He speaks of ‘the power of language as a means of structuring, interpreting, remaking experience; the need to remap the world so that wherever you happen to be is the centre’. Later, he describes himself as ‘a writer whose immediate world and material happen to be Australian’.

Happen to be. In the precise, lapidarian chisellings of Malouf’s prose, this repetition takes on special significance. Happen, as in deed, but also as in happenstance. Something occurs and something is. This is the accepted order.

What occurs and is – in this instance – is Australianness. And here, at this point of deep concurrence, Malouf and I most meaningfully part ways.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.