Ian Donaldson Ian Donaldson i(A100146 works by)
Born: Established: 6 May 1935 Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 18 Mar 2020 Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Art as Information : Reflections on the Art from Captain Cook's Voyages Ian Donaldson , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodean Perspective : Selected Writings of Bernard Smith 2018;
1 'In Springtime the Dragon Is Useless : An Exhaustive Biography of Pierre Ryckmans Ian Donaldson , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 400 2018; (p. 22, 24)

'The Belgian-born scholar Pierre Ryckmans, more widely known to the world by his adopted name of Simon Leys, was widely hailed in the Australian press at his death in 2014 as ‘one of the most distinguished public intellectuals’ of his adopted country, where he had lived and taught for many years – first in Canberra, later in Sydney – and where, after a titanic battle with the Belgian bureaucracy, he chose shortly before his death to become a naturalised citizen.' (Introduction)
1 The Distancing of Bernard Smith : An Eloquent Biography of Bernard Smith Ian Donaldson , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 383 2016; (p. 20)
— Review of Hegel's Owl : The Life of Bernard Smith Sheridan Palmer , 2016 single work biography
1 Multiple Tales to Tell : A Diligent Study of Judith Wright Ian Donaldson , 2016 single work review essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 386 2016; (p. 12-13) 'Literary biographers and their intended subjects at times agree and at times disagree about the stories they think should be told. J.D. Salinger and Vladimir Nabokov – the one, fastidious about his privacy, the other, insistent on his version of history – famously took their biographers to court and emerged victorious. Such tussles are settled at times more quietly, through compromise, withholding of copyright, or spoiling tactics of some other kind. Doris Lessing, on learning that no fewer than five different writers were preparing to tell the story of her life, sat down to write a two-volume auto- biography which would serve, so she thought, as a gazumping record of a life about which she knew she knew more than any of her would-be chroniclers. But once she got going she found that her views and opinions had changed disconcertingly over the years, the perspectives of youth giving way to those of old age. Biography, she reflected, was an unstable art, subject always to flux, contingency, and the restless, revisionist movement of time. Her biographers might tell one kind of story about her – or five different kinds – but she too had multiple tales to tell.' (Introduction)
1 The Missing Novels Debra Adelaide , Bernadette Brennan , Geraldine Brooks , Gregory Day , Ian Donaldson , Anna Funder , Andrea Goldsmith , Rodney Hall , Sonya Hartnett , Gail Jones , Susan Lever , Brian Matthews , Peter Rose , Susan Sheridan , Geordie Williamson , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 374 2015; (p. 41-43) 'Early success is no guarantee of a book’s continued availability or circulation. Some major and/or once-fashionable authors recede from public consciousness, and in some cases go out of print. We invited some writers and critics to identity novelists who they feel should be better known.'
1 A Tribute to W.S. Ramson (1933-2011) Ian Donaldson , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: Ozwords , October vol. 22 no. 2 2013; (p. 1-3)
1 Books of the Year Patrick Allington , Judith Beveridge , Carmel Bird , Geoffrey Blainey , Alison Broinowski , Sophie Cunningham , Ian Donaldson , Gillian Dooley , Andrea Goldsmith , Kerryn Goldsworthy , Rodney Hall , Paul Hetherington , Gail Jones , Jacqueline Kent , John Kinsella , James Ley , Patrick McCaughey , Brian McFarlane , Michael Morley , Brenda Niall , John Rickard , John Tranter , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December 2011-January 2012 no. 337 2011; (p. 27-31) Australian writers and reviewers each nominate their best books of 2011. Some of the books listed are by Australian writers.
1 Best Books of the Year Judith Armstrong , Judith Beveridge , Geoffrey Blainey , Neal Blewett , James Bradley , Ian Britain , Alison Broinowski , Glyn Davis , Ian Donaldson , Delia Falconer , Morag Fraser , Anna Goldsworthy , Fiona Gruber , Nicholas Jose , Beverley Kingston , James Ley , Patrick McCaughey , Brian McFarlane , Peter Pierce , Dorothy Porter , Angus Trumble , Geordie Williamson , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 21-25) Australian writers and reviewers each nominate their best books of 2008. Some of the books listed are by Australian writers.
1 Best Books of the Year Dennis Altman , Judith Beveridge , Neal Blewett , Pamela Bone , Paul Brunton , John Button , Peter Craven , Ian Donaldson , Morag Fraser , Kerryn Goldsworthy , Lisa Gorton , Bridget Griffen-Foley , Barry Jones , Gail Jones , Nicholas Jose , James Ley , Patrick McCaughey , David McCooey , Brian Matthews , Brenda Niall , Peter Porter , Michael Shmith , Maria Takolander , Angus Trumble , Chris Wallace-Crabbe , Geordie Williamson , 2006-2007 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 287 2006-2007; (p. 25-29) Reviewers for Australian Book Review each nominate their best books of 2005. Some of the books listed are by Australian writers.
1 1 Matters of Life and Death: The Return of Biography Ian Donaldson , 2006 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 286 2006; (p. 23-29) Donaldson discusses changes of perception in universities about the place and significance of biography writing. He introduces into his argument the thoughts of five 'antibiographers' or sceptics - Terry Eagleton, Virginia Woolfe, Lytton Strachey, Roland Barthes and Stefan Collini.
1 y separately published work icon Shaping Lives : Reflections on Biography Ian Donaldson (editor), Peter Read (editor), James Walter (editor), Canberra : Australian National University, Humanities Research Centre , 1992 Z1352068 1992 anthology poetry (taught in 2 units)
X