y separately published work icon A Working Forest : Selected Prose selected work   prose   autobiography   review   column   criticism   obituary  
  • Author:agent Les Murray http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les
Issue Details: First known date: 1997... 1997 A Working Forest : Selected Prose
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This selection consists of essays and reviews from The Australian Year, Doubletake, three earlier prose selections - The Peasant Mandarin, Persistence in Folly and Blocks and Tackles - and some previously uncollected work.

Notes

  • Dedication: To the greater glory of God
  • Reviews of books not of Australian literary interest have not been individually listed.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Potts Point, Kings Cross area, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,:Duffy and Snellgrove , 1997 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
From Bulby Brush to Figure City, Les Murray , single work biography (p. 3-6)
The Bonnie Disproportion, Les Murray , single work autobiography prose (p. 7-29)
On Being Subject Matter, Les Murray , single work autobiography (p. 30-44)
A Generation of Changes, Les Murray , single work prose autobiography (p. 45-52)
Notes on the Writing of a Novel Sequence, Les Murray , single work criticism (p. 53-56)
In a Working Forest, Les Murray , single work prose autobiography (p. 57-73)
The Best of Our Man in Bunyah : A Column in The Independent Monthly, 1993-1996, Les Murray , selected work column (p. 74-103)
A Folk University, Les Murray , single work column (p. 107-109)
The Australian Republic, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 110-120)
Peter Porter : On First Looking into Chapman's Hesiod On Sitting Back and Thinking About Porter's Boeotia, Les Murray , single work essay (p. 121-129)
Some Religious Stuff I Know About Australia, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 130-147)
Eric Rolls and the Golden Disobedience, Les Murray , single work criticism (p. 148-166)
The Import of Seasons Preface, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 167-170)
Flaunt, Scunge and Death-Freckles, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 171-177)
Snow Gums, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 178-182)
The Suspect Captivity of the Fisher King, Les Murray , single work criticism (p. 183-189)
The Noblesse Trap : The Ills and Possibilities of Arts Patronage, Les Murray , single work criticism (p. 190-210)
Making the Pledge, Les Murray , single work prose (p. 211-213)
Wheatish and Auspicious, Les Murray , single work biography travel (p. 223-227)
Antarctica : An Adventure of a Different Nature, Les Murray , single work film/TV
Antarctica explores life in the Antarctic region for indigenous animals and for the scientists who work there.
 (p. 228-235)
Note:

Film script 'based on Assembly 9 of the film and discussions with the director'. (p.228)
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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Other Formats

  • Also sound recording (Swedish)
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Related Works

y separately published work icon Lettere dalla Beozia : Scritti sull'Australia e la Poesia Les Murray , ( trans. Massimiliano Morini )expression Varese : Giano Editore , 2005 Z1305848 2005 selected work essay criticism prose
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Works about this Work

In Search of the Celtic Sunrise John McLaren , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journeying and Journalling : Creative and Critical Meditations on Travel Writing 2010; (p. 37-46) 'The title of this paper caused me a lot of trouble. I thought the one I settled on was brilliant, but unfortunately, when I came to write the paper to go with it, I found difficulty in making a match. For a while it seemed that my search was leading only to a Celtic sunset. However,it did give me a reason to traipse around Wales and Ireland and Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes, even if in Ireland and Scotland the sun I was seeking neither rose nor set, but remained resolutely hidden beneath mists and clouds. I gathered a fair amount of history on my journeying, and the full version of this paper uses this to provide a context for the cultural differences I located in the poetry. There is, however, no time to go into this analysis of the contrasting histories of settlement, and of the distinct economic, political and religious circumstances in the countries of origin. Instead I will ask that you take those matters as given while I concentrate mainly on poets whose work demonstrates the cultural differences that arose from these circumstances.' (Author's introduction, 37)
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent Anthony J. Hassall , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
Yawp! Sounding Local, Sounding Ugly Kevin Brophy , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Explorations in Creative Writing 2003; (p. 146-153)
Les Murray's "Narrowspeak" Peter Pierce , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 2 2001; (p. 76-86) Examines Murray's prose which he has spoken of as "Narrowspeak", in comparison to the "Wholespeak" of poetry.
Grand Flow of Murrayspeak Peter Craven , 1998 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 31 January-1 February 1998; (p. 27)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
Australian Poetry's Uluru and Iturkawara Jim Tulip , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , Summer vol. 57 no. 4 1997-1998; (p. 191-198)
— Review of Subhuman Redneck Poems Les Murray , 1996 selected work poetry ; A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose ; Collected Poems Geoffrey Lehmann , 1997 selected work poetry ; Counterbalancing Light : Essays on the Poetry of Les Murray 1997 anthology criticism
Red Herrings Inc. Brian Matthews , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian's Review of Books , November vol. 2 no. 10 1997; (p. 22-23,31)
— Review of The Oxford Book of Australian Essays 1997 anthology prose short story biography criticism ; A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
A Calvinist Catholic John Forbes , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 23 August 1997; (p. wkd 8)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
Books in Brief Peter Goldsworthy , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian's Review of Books , July vol. 2 no. 6 1997; (p. 28)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
From a Little Scorn, a Mighty Oak Has Grown Peter Pierce , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16 August 1997; (p. 10s)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose Les Murray , 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
Yawp! Sounding Local, Sounding Ugly Kevin Brophy , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Explorations in Creative Writing 2003; (p. 146-153)
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent Anthony J. Hassall , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
In Search of the Celtic Sunrise John McLaren , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journeying and Journalling : Creative and Critical Meditations on Travel Writing 2010; (p. 37-46) 'The title of this paper caused me a lot of trouble. I thought the one I settled on was brilliant, but unfortunately, when I came to write the paper to go with it, I found difficulty in making a match. For a while it seemed that my search was leading only to a Celtic sunset. However,it did give me a reason to traipse around Wales and Ireland and Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes, even if in Ireland and Scotland the sun I was seeking neither rose nor set, but remained resolutely hidden beneath mists and clouds. I gathered a fair amount of history on my journeying, and the full version of this paper uses this to provide a context for the cultural differences I located in the poetry. There is, however, no time to go into this analysis of the contrasting histories of settlement, and of the distinct economic, political and religious circumstances in the countries of origin. Instead I will ask that you take those matters as given while I concentrate mainly on poets whose work demonstrates the cultural differences that arose from these circumstances.' (Author's introduction, 37)
Les Murray's "Narrowspeak" Peter Pierce , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 2 2001; (p. 76-86) Examines Murray's prose which he has spoken of as "Narrowspeak", in comparison to the "Wholespeak" of poetry.
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