Fiction

A Private Man by Malcolm Knox

Item: A Private Man
Author: José Borghino

by José Borghino •

March 2004, no. 259

Vintage, $29.95 pb, 385 pp

Fiction

A Private Man by Malcolm Knox

by José Borghino •

March 2004, no. 259

Gabriel García Márquez once said that all of us lead three different lives simultaneously: public, private, and secret. In his second novel, A Private Man, Malcolm Knox explores two very secret recesses of the modern Australian male’s experience: porn and sport. That both these spheres also have a very public face merely allows for these secret experiences to be played out in front of a paying audience as either tragedy or farce, or sometimes both.

José Borghino

José Borghino has managed government, media, and public relations for the Australian Publishers Association since 2005. He lectures in Literary Journalism at Sydney University, and is a regular book reviewer for The Australian, The Australian Literary Review, and the Sydney Morning Herald. He was the Editor of the online news and commentary site NewMatilda.com from 2005 to 2007. José Borghino was the Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors from 1998 to 2004; and before that worked for the Literature Board of the Australia Council from 1990 to 1998. He was Chair of the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity from 2003 to 2004 and Chair of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Committee in 2000. He was the book reviews editor for marie claire magazine and the founding editor of both EDITIONS Review magazine and Education Australia magazine.