'On the cover of the latest edition of
Meanjin, the mournful head of Frank Moorhouse gazes back at readers. It is a sad and sorry business, his expression seems to say. A grand old man of Australian letters is broke. ‘Is writing a way of life?,’ Moorhouse enquires. I don’t think I’m spoiling it by revealing that for Moorhouse, financially at any rate, writing is not.' (Introduction)