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David Malouf

デイヴィッド・マルーフ

David Malouf

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-03-20 (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)
Nationality
Australia
Languages
English
Residence History
England (London, Birkenhead etc.) → Tuscany, Italy (residence) → Sydney, Australia (long-term residence) → Queensland, Australia (current residence)

Career

Occupations
novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, librettist
Active Years
1962-
Affiliations
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Influenced By
Patrick White
Influenced
Nominations
1993 Booker Prize (shortlist) — Remembering Babylon, 2011 International Dublin Literary Award (shortlist) — Ransom, 2011 International Booker Prize (shortlist)

Education

University of Queensland
English
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1950年代(在学〜卒業)
Year of Graduation: 1955
Country: Australia
Graduated B.A. in 1955. Later awarded an honorary doctorate from the University (1991).

Awards

Grace Leven Prize for Poetry
1974
Work: Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems
Organization: Grace Leven Prize
Result: Winner
Australian Literature Society Gold Medal
1974
Work: Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems
Organization: Australian Literature Society
Result: Winner
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
1979
Work: An Imaginary Life
Category: Fiction
Organization: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
Result: Winner
Miles Franklin Award
1991
Work: The Great World
Organization: Miles Franklin Award
Result: Winner
Prix Femina Étranger
1991
Work: The Great World
Category: Étranger (Foreign)
Organization: Prix Femina
Result: Winner
Prix Femina Étranger
1994
Work: Remembering Babylon
Category: Étranger (Foreign)
Organization: Prix Femina
Result: Winner
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction
1994
Work: Remembering Babylon
Category: Fiction
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Winner
International Dublin Literary Award
1996
Work: Remembering Babylon
Organization: International Dublin Literary Award
Result: Winner
Neustadt International Prize for Literature
2000
Organization: Neustadt International Prize for Literature
Result: Winner
Australia-Asia Literary Award
2008
Work: The Complete Stories
Organization: Australia-Asia Literary Award
Result: Winner
Australia Council Award (Lifetime Achievement)
2016
Category: Lifetime Achievement in Literature
Organization: Australia Council
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Johnno

1975 Novel (semi-autobiographical)

A semi-autobiographical novel about a young man growing up in wartime Brisbane; explores friendship, class contrasts and youthful transgressions.

coming of agemale identitymemory
Adaptations
  • [Stage] Johnno (stage adaptation) / La Boite Theatre (adaptation, 2006) (2006)

An Imaginary Life

1978 Novel (historical fiction)

A short novel about the later years of the poet Ovid, exploring language, culture and solitude.

languageothernesssolitude

Fly Away Peter

1982 Novella (set around World War I)

A novella about three acquaintances and their experiences of World War I; contrasts nature with the realities of war.

warnaturefriendship

The Great World

1990 Novel (historical/epic)

An epic novel tracing the relationship of two Australians through the upheavals of two World Wars, including imprisonment by the Japanese in WWII.

war and humanityfriendshipmemory and survival

Remembering Babylon

1993 Novel (colonial-era community novel)

Set in northern Australia in the 1850s, it tells of a young white man raised by Indigenous Australians whose arrival unsettles an isolated community of immigrant farmers.

othering and belongingcultural collisionidentity

Ransom

2009 Novel (reimagining of classical myth)

A reimagining of a scene from Homer's Iliad, focusing on ransom, gift and the human acts of mercy around a bereaved father.

language and reconciliationhuman compassionmythic reworking

Bibliography

  • Bicycle and Other Poems (1970)
  • Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems (1974)
  • Johnno (1975)
  • An Imaginary Life (1978)
  • Fly Away Peter (1982)
  • The Great World (1990)
  • Remembering Babylon (1993)
  • The Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996)
  • Ransom (2009)
  • The Complete Stories (2007)

Adaptations

  • Voss (opera libretto)
  • Johnno (stage adaptation, 2006)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical yet realist proseprecise handling of spatial relationspoetic rhythm combined with polished prose
Recurring Motifs
origin and identitymemory and reappraisal of the pastsense of land and placeinterior examinations of masculinity

Legacy

David Malouf is one of Australia's foremost writers from the late 20th to early 21st century, internationally recognized across poetry, fiction, drama and libretti. His contributions—especially in spatial depiction and interiority—have had lasting significance in contemporary literature.

Academic Societies

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
  • Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Archives

  • University of Queensland Library (manuscripts and archives)

Quotes

  • “The place you come from is always the most exotic place you'll ever encounter because it is the only place where you recognise how many secrets and mysteries there are in people's lives.”
    Source: Interview/essay (summarized on Wikipedia)

Trivia

  • His father was a Lebanese Christian and his mother of Sephardi Jewish descent.
  • He is openly gay.
  • Remembering Babylon was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993.
  • He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
  • Recipient of international prizes including the Neustadt International Prize (2000).