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Poetry

On David Malouf: Writers on Writers by Nam Le

by •
May 2019, no. 411

On David Malouf: Writers on Writers by Nam Le

Black Inc., $17.99 hb, 108 pp, 9781760640392

Poetry

On David Malouf: Writers on Writers by Nam Le

by •
May 2019, no. 411

For more than a decade the world has waited, patiently or disbelievingly, for a second book from Nam Le, author of The Boat (2008), a collection of seven tales that won the young Australian author acclaim throughout the world. Finally, it has arrived. A book-length essay running to about 15,000 words, it may not be what the ravenous world had in mind, but it is seriously interesting – interestingly interesting one might almost say. The volume appears in Black Inc.’s neat little Writers on Writers series, with its owlish photographs of authors and subjects: author on top, subject below. Until now, there have been four in the series, including Christos Tsiolkas on Patrick White, and Ceridwen Dovey on J.M. Coetzee. (Michelle de Kretser on Shirley Hazzard, due later this year, promises to be a notable pairing.) 

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Peter Rose

In 2001 Peter Rose became the Editor of Australian Book Review. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. He has published several books of poetry, an award-winning family memoir, Rose Boys, and two novels, the most recent being Roddy Parr (Fourth Estate, 2010). His latest poetry collections are Rag (Gazebo Books, 2023) and Attention, Please! (Pitt Street Poetry, February 2025). His extensive criticism appears in a variety of publication, including ABR. Rose writes and performs short absurdist plays with The Highly Strung Players.

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Comments (2)

  • This "rather fierce little book" (and I couldn't agree more with this comment of your reviewer) hit me really hard, when I read the essay over the last few days. And for old white Australians like myself, I think it is meant to. And although I once foolishly volunteered and wore the uniform of the Australian Army and served in Vietnam (Nam Le's country of birth) for a year in 1967/68, I feel more and more alienated from the country in which I was born and which I somewhat reluctantly now have to call home. Because I always fondly believed, incorrectly as it has turned out, that Australia was a welcoming country for those from other lands seeking its help and refuge, and that after a few years living here, such people would feel, as presumably David Malouf does, but Nam Le does not, that they had become truly Australian; that they no longer felt "other".
    Nam Le's essay is challenging, instructive and deeply thought provoking. Some have suggested that it is more about Nam Le than it is about David Malouf, and that he has not done his subject justice. I profoundly disagree. His work in this essay has sent me back to rereading David Malouf's writing, much of which I had half forgotten. That to me is proof enough that the essay is a success. And it has not only made me reread 'The Boat', but long for more writing from Nam Le's pen. I hope he won't disappoint us by another long interval before he publishes again.
    Posted by David Bradford
    27 November 2019
  • I was very surprised by the statement here that J.M. Coetzee would never be described as ‘South African-Australian’. Like most readers, I am guessing, I associate him primarily with South Africa, where most of his finest work is set. Also, given that he only moved to Australia in his early 60s, I would have thought that describing him in that way would simply be an act of courtesy.
    A quick look on google also brought up - in a short space of time - - "Irish- Australian crime author", "Irish-Australian cellist", "a German-Australian author" etc. etc.
    Posted by Andrew Shields
    12 May 2019

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