Gerald Murnane turns to poetry at the end of his literary career, writing frank, disarming
poems that traverse the rich span of his life.
I esteem / above all poems or passages of prose / those that put a lump in my throat. — Gerald Murnane, ‘The Darkling Thrush’
Gerald Murnane, now in his eightieth year,
began his writing career as a poet. After many years as a writer of fiction, he
only returned to poetry a few years ago when he moved to Goroke, in the Western
Districts of Victoria, after the death of his wife. The forty-five poems collected
here are in a strikingly different mode to his fiction — without framing or
digressions, and with very few images, they speak openly to the reader of the
author’s memories, beliefs and experiences. They are for this reason an
important addition to his internationally recognised body of fiction, most
recently Border Districts and Collected Short Fiction, published by
Giramondo.
The poems include tributes to his mother
and father and to his family, and to places that have played a formative role
in his life, like Gippsland, Bendigo, Warrnambool, the Western Districts, and
of course Goroke. Especially moving are his poems dedicated to authors who have
influenced him — Lesbia Harford and Thomas Hardy, William Carlos Williams, Henry
Handel Richardson, Marcel Proust, and with particular force, the
eighteenth-century poet John Clare, who gives the collection its title, revered
‘not only for his writings / but for his losing his reason when / he was forced
from the district he had wanted as his for life.’
Praise for Gerald Murnane:
‘A strong case could be made for Murnane…as the greatest living English-language writer most people have never heard of.’ — New York Times
‘No living Australian writer, not even Les Murray, has higher claims to permanence or a richer sense of distinction.’ — Sydney Morning Herald
