- Gerald Murnane
Gerald Murnane (born
25 February 1939 ) is anAustralian writer .Life
Murnane was born in Coburg,
Melbourne , and has almost never left the state of Victoria. Parts of his childhood were spent inBendigo and theWestern District . In 1956 he matriculated fromDe La Salle College Malvern .Murnane briefly trained for the
Roman Catholic priesthood in 1957. He abandoned this path, however, instead becoming a teacher in primary schools (from 1960 to 1968), and at the Victoria Racing Club's Apprentice Jockeys' School. He received a Bachelor of Arts from theUniversity of Melbourne in 1969, then worked in the Victorian Education Department until 1973. From 1980 he began to teach creative writing at various tertiary institutions.In 1969 Murnane moved to the Melbourne suburb of Macleod, where he has lived ever since.
He married in 1966 and has three sons. [The biographical information contained in this section can be found in
Imre Salusinszky , "Gerald Murnane" (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. ix-x.]Work
Murnane's first two novels, "Tamarisk Row" (1974) and "A Lifetime on Clouds" (1976), seem to be semi-autobiographical accounts of his childhood and adolescence. Both are composed largely of very long but utterly grammatical sentences.
In 1982, he attained his mature style with "The Plains", a short novel about a young filmmaker who travels to a fictive country far within Australia. The novel is a metaphysical parable about appearance and reality. It was followed by: "Landscape With Landscape" (1985), "Inland" (1988), "Velvet Waters" (1990), and "Emerald Blue" (1995). A book of essays, "
Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs ", appeared in 2005. All of these books are concerned with the relation between memory, image, and landscape, and frequently with the relation between fiction and non-fiction.As of early 2006, Murnane was reported to be working on a new work of fiction, and to have archived work for publication after certain unnamed people had died.
Murnane is mainly known within Australia. A seminar was held on his work at the University of Newcastle in 2001. Murnane does, however, also have a following in other countries, especially
Sweden and theUnited States , where "The Plains" was published in 1985 and reprinted in 2004.Interests
Murnane is an avid follower of
horse racing , which often serves as a metaphor in his work. A documentary, "Words and Silk – The Real and Imaginary Worlds of Gerald Murnane" (1989), directed by Philip Tyndall, examined Murnane's childhood, work, approach to the craft of writing, and interest in horseracing.He also taught himself to read Hungarian, which he continues to do.
Awards
*The
Patrick White Award (1999).
*A Special Award in theNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards (2007).
*The Australia Council emeritus award (2008). [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/koch-murnane-receive-emeritus-awards/2008/02/12/1202760283700.html Koch, Murnane receive emeritus awards.] ]Books
*(1974) "Tamarisk Row". William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne.
*(1976) "A Lifetime on Clouds". William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne.
*(1982) "The Plains". The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne.
*(1985) "Landscape With Landscape". Norstrilia Press, Melbourne.
*(1988) "Inland". William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne.
*(1990) "Velvet Waters". McPhee Gribble, Melbourne.
*(1995) "Emerald Blue". McPhee Gribble, Melbourne.
*(2005) "Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs ". Giramondo Publishing Company, Sydney, distributed by Tower Books.External links
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/a-detrimental-education/2007/06/29/1182624093153.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 A detrimental education] , 30 June 2007.
* [http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/sport/opening-speech.html Speech at Monash University] , 27 July 2006.
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/gerald-murnanes-obsessive-imagination/2005/10/13/1128796638337.html An obsessive imagination] , interview, 15 October 2005.
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Ba02Spo-_div1-N10525.html When the mice failed to arrive] , story.
* [http://www.golvanarts.com.au/clients/murnane.htm Biography at Golvan Arts website] , Murnane's literary agent.References
Persondata
NAME=Murnane, Gerald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Contemporary Australian novelist
DATE OF BIRTH=25 February 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH=Melbourne ,Victoria, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=
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