The Crab Feast single work   poetry   "There is no getting closer"
  • Author:agent David Malouf http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/malouf-david
Issue Details: First known date: 1980... 1980 The Crab Feast
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon First Things Last : Poems David Malouf , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1980 Z23472 1980 selected work poetry St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1980 pg. 28-37
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon David Malouf : Johnno, Short Stories, Poems, Essays and Interview David Malouf , Jim Tulip (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1990 Z211109 1990 selected work novel poetry short story prose criticism biography interview

    'David Malouf is one of the finest writers in contemporary literature. This volume offers a well-balanced, compact selection of his intricately connected work. Short stories, poems, essays, interviews and the classic novel "Johnno", reproduced in full, show the range of his remarkable achievement. "Johnno", his first and most popular work of fiction, has entered the public imagination with its moving evocation of the 1940s and 50s. The novel is here counterbalanced by the wider contexts of David Malouf's poems and short stories. The uncollected essays highlight his brilliance as a literary commentator, and his deep interest in a variety of contemporary issues. James Tulip's introduction provides an indispensable overview of the work of this outstanding author.'  (Publication summary)

    St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1990
    pg. 247-256
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Selected Poems David Malouf , North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1991 Z158982 1991 selected work poetry North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1991 pg. 84-92
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Poems 1959-1989 David Malouf , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1992 Z493213 1992 selected work poetry St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1992 pg. 180-189
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Selected Poems 1959-1989 David Malouf , London : Chatto and Windus , 1994 Z1239563 1994 selected work poetry London : Chatto and Windus , 1994 pg. 99-108
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse Peter Porter (editor), South Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1996 Z397894 1996 anthology poetry extract South Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1996 pg. 109-115
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Revolving Days : Selected Poems David Malouf , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2008 Z1472223 2008 selected work poetry 'This is a collection spanning David Malouf's career. It includes previously published poems, as well as new poems organised by their geographical setting, according to the places in which David has lived over the last 30 years.' (Provided by publisher). St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2008 pg. 109-118

Works about this Work

The End of Words at the World's End : An Anthropocene Reading of David Malouf's 'The Crab Feast' Ruth Barrett-Peacock , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Anglophone Literature and Culture in the Anthropocene 2019; (p. 176-193)
Closely reads David Malouf's poem 'The Crab Feast' from the perspective of the Anthropocene.
'Our Own Way Back' : Spatial Memory in the Poetry of David Malouf Emily Bitto , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 8 2008; (p. 92-106)
Much of David Malouf's writing enacts what may be referred to as 'spatial memory'. His poetry utilises a uniquely 'layered' time-perspective in which Malouf repeatedly revisits places of personal significance over numerous collections and, through memory and imagination, imbues these spaces with mythological significance. This process can be seen as a direct response to what Malouf perceives as 'the need to remap the world so that wherever you happen to be is the centre'. Although it may at first appear as simply an autobiographical phenomenon, this process of 'spatial memory' is also revealed as significant on a broader social level, as part of Malouf's longstanding project of redefining Australia, in the eyes of its inhabitants, as a significant cultural and literary centre. When Malouf began publishing in the nineteen-sixties, his poetry, as well as his first novel Johnno, focused on the tension between the perceived 'provinciality' of Australia and the 'exoticism' of the cultural and colonial centres of England and Europe. It is arguable that Malouf's literary remapping of centre and edge is still pertinent today, though now in relation to the increasing cultural dominance of the United States. This essay examines the role of 'spatial memory' in Malouf's poetry, focusing in particular on his numerous poems devoted to the area around Moreton Bay. It demonstrates the process by which these poems of personal memoir become significant on the broader level of social memory, and draws this exploration into a discussion of Malouf's politics of space and memory. (Author's abstract)
Communing with David Malouf : Considerations Upon Salvation Greg Smith , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian EJournal of Theology , February no. 4 2005;
'The following article provides a hermeneutical reading of Malouf's The Crab Feast (1980) that brings to bear the twin dimensions of annual neighbourly banqueting and the universal hope for salvation where the poet sings of such a moment of realisation.' (Author's abstract)
Elegies of Presence : Malouf, Heidegger and Language Paul Kavanagh , 1994 single work criticism
— Appears in: Provisional Maps : Critical Essays on David Malouf 1994; (p. 149-162)
'Smoke Drifting Up at Dawn' : Individual Identity in the Poetry of David Malouf Dennis Haskell , 1994 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Provisional Maps : Critical Essays on David Malouf 1994; (p. 13-27)
Communing with David Malouf : Considerations Upon Salvation Greg Smith , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian EJournal of Theology , February no. 4 2005;
'The following article provides a hermeneutical reading of Malouf's The Crab Feast (1980) that brings to bear the twin dimensions of annual neighbourly banqueting and the universal hope for salvation where the poet sings of such a moment of realisation.' (Author's abstract)
'Our Own Way Back' : Spatial Memory in the Poetry of David Malouf Emily Bitto , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , no. 8 2008; (p. 92-106)
Much of David Malouf's writing enacts what may be referred to as 'spatial memory'. His poetry utilises a uniquely 'layered' time-perspective in which Malouf repeatedly revisits places of personal significance over numerous collections and, through memory and imagination, imbues these spaces with mythological significance. This process can be seen as a direct response to what Malouf perceives as 'the need to remap the world so that wherever you happen to be is the centre'. Although it may at first appear as simply an autobiographical phenomenon, this process of 'spatial memory' is also revealed as significant on a broader social level, as part of Malouf's longstanding project of redefining Australia, in the eyes of its inhabitants, as a significant cultural and literary centre. When Malouf began publishing in the nineteen-sixties, his poetry, as well as his first novel Johnno, focused on the tension between the perceived 'provinciality' of Australia and the 'exoticism' of the cultural and colonial centres of England and Europe. It is arguable that Malouf's literary remapping of centre and edge is still pertinent today, though now in relation to the increasing cultural dominance of the United States. This essay examines the role of 'spatial memory' in Malouf's poetry, focusing in particular on his numerous poems devoted to the area around Moreton Bay. It demonstrates the process by which these poems of personal memoir become significant on the broader level of social memory, and draws this exploration into a discussion of Malouf's politics of space and memory. (Author's abstract)
y separately published work icon David Malouf Ivor Indyk , South Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1993 Z165274 1993 single work criticism
The Evidence of Anecdote : Some Perspectives on the Poetry of David Malouf Thomas Shapcott , 1994 single work criticism
— Appears in: Provisional Maps : Critical Essays on David Malouf 1994; (p. 1-11)
'Smoke Drifting Up at Dawn' : Individual Identity in the Poetry of David Malouf Dennis Haskell , 1994 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Provisional Maps : Critical Essays on David Malouf 1994; (p. 13-27)
Last amended 5 May 2009 16:57:11
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