'In prose that is both elegant and lyrical, David Malouf departs from the little-known facts of Ovid's exile beyond the pale of civilization to create a deeply moving novel of extraordinary beauty. An outcast in a vast wasteland at the edge of the Black Sea, Ovid discovers a feral child. As he teaches the boy to speak the language of the civilized world, the child tutors him in his own tongue, the language of nature, and the once barren landscape begins to resonate with meaning.' (Publisher's blurb)
A stage adaptation of David Malouf's novel about the friendship between the exiled Ovid and a feral child.
'In this memoir, Antonella Riem reflects on her long career in Australian literary studies in Italy and internationally, and the scholars who have inspired her. She then outlines the principles of the partnership model of literary studies that she has developed over many years, and how she applies her approach to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’ and David Malouf’s An Imaginary Life.' (Publication abstract)
'This article explores themes of place, literature and friendship through an engagement with David Malouf’s novel Johhno. Set in Brisbane and Italy, the article takes the form of a creative non-fiction essay, in six sections. The narrator reflects on her wanderings, bent on renunciation of everything except writing, yet hoping for revelation or union. Whereas for Malouf’s characters, Dante and Johnno, Brisbane offers a canvas to hurl themselves against, the narrator of ‘All You See’ takes the city as a point of arrival and departure. She veers towards and away from family, friends and lovers, crossing cities and continents, eventually returning home, yet still at odds with what she knows and what she has lived.' (Publication abstract)
'Since 2009, Australian author David Malouf’s texts have been included and then excluded from key courses in Indian universities. Malouf’s place in the curriculum (particularly that of An Imaginary Life [1978]) relates to pedagogical and intellectual negotiations with postcolonial theory – especially debates about the inclusion of white settler literatures. It also should be seen in the context of the country’s emergent (hyper)nationalist political imagination. Referring to the influential course “New Literatures in English” offered by University of Delhi’s English department, this article argues that the selection of Malouf texts by Indian English departments indicates not only ongoing debates in postcolonial thought, but also a preference for postcolonial texts that can be read through essentializing lenses. It proposes Malouf’s later novel Remembering Babylon (1993) as a productive text through which to discuss the limitations of using deterministic cultural markers in the creation of a postcolonial Indian imaginary.' (Publication abstract)
Discusses the representations of the male body and identity in Australian art and literature.
