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Search - List of Books by Chris Wallace-Crabbe

Chris Keith Wallace-Crabbe (born 6 May 1934) is an Australian poet and Emeritus Professor in The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.

He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond and educated at Scotch College, Yale University, and the University of Melbourne, where for much of his life he has worked, and is now Professor Emeritus in the Australian Centre. He was Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University and at the University of Venice, Ca'Foscari. He is also an essayist, a critic of the visual arts, and a notable public reader of his verse.

After leaving school, Wallace-Crabbe set out to be a metallurgist, but was drawn back to his childhood interest in books and art. After training in the RAAF, he worked as an electrical trade journalist while studying for his B.A. in the evenings. He published his first book of poetrywhile doing his Final Honors year. In 1961 he became Lockie Fellow in Australian Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne.Over the next decades he became Reader in English, and then held a Personal Chair from 1988. Thanks to the initiative of H.C. ("Nugget") Coombs, he was a Harkness Fellow at Yale University from 1965-67, mixing widely with American writers and developing his poetry in new directions. In later years he has spent time in Italy, reading and translating Italian verse.

Wallace-Crabbe's early collections were published in Australia, but in 1985 he began to publish with Oxford University Press, reaching an international public. Although he published some of his criticism and his one novel elsewhere, he remained with Oxford until 1998, after which date the Press ceased publishing live poets. He then took his work to Carcanet Publishers, in Manchester. Back in Australia he brought out two books with the Sydney firm of Brandl & Schlesinger. One of these was a highly experimental long poem, or "zany epic", on which he had been working for a dozen years. It would be fair to say that this dense and difficult poem divided the poet's readers.

Reviewers over the years have drawn attention time and again to the energetic mixture of demotic and elevated language which very often marks Wallace-Crabbe's poetry. For the poet this not only testifies to his wide interest in language but also to his sense of the stubborn plurality of our experience. Such mixed diction certainly persists in his very latest books, particularly in his sonnets and in the"Domestic Sublime" sequence of lyrics.

Since his retirement from university teaching he has continued to live in Melbourne, adhering to poetry. He is also Chair of the newly-established Australian Poetry Centre.

Awards   more

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chris Wallace-Crabbe", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 35
Afternoon in the Central Nervous System A Selection of Poems
2015 - Afternoon in the Central Nervous System a Selection of Poems [Brazller Series of Australian Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780807600108
ISBN-10: 0807600105
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

New and Selected Poems
2013 - New and Selected Poems [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781906188078
ISBN-10: 1906188076
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw
2008 - Telling a Hawk From a Handsaw (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781903039939
ISBN-10: 1903039932
  ?

Read it Again
2005 - Read It Again [Reconstruction] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781844710584
ISBN-10: 1844710580
  ?

By and Large
1999 - By and Large [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781903039069
ISBN-10: 1903039061
  ?

Approaching Austrialia Papers from the Harvard Australian Studies Symposium
1999 - Approaching Austrialia Papers From the Harvard Australian Studies Symposium (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780674041899
ISBN-10: 0674041895
Genre: History
  ?

Approaching Australia Papers from the Harvard Australian Studies Symposium
1999 - Approaching Australia Papers From the Harvard Australian Studies Symposium (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780674041905
ISBN-10: 0674041909
Genre: History
  ?

Whirling
1998 - Whirling [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780192880819
ISBN-10: 0192880810
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Selected Poems 19561994
1995 - Selected Poems 19561994 [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780192824127
ISBN-10: 0192824120
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Rungs of Time
1993 - Rungs of Time [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780192831606
ISBN-10: 0192831607
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Falling into Language
1992 - Falling Into Language (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780195531404
ISBN-10: 019553140X
Genre: Reference
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For Crying Out Loud
1991 - For Crying Out Loud [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780192827890
ISBN-10: 0192827898
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

I'm Deadly Serious
1988 - I'm Deadly Serious [Oxford Paperbacks] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780192821317
ISBN-10: 0192821318
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

The Amorous Cannibal
1985 - The Amorous Cannibal [Oxford Poets] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780192119681
ISBN-10: 0192119680
Genre: Literature & Fiction
  ?

Toil  Spin Two Directions in Modern Poetry
Toil Spin Two Directions in Modern Poetry (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780091371005
ISBN-10: 0091371007
  ?

The Australian nationalists Modern critical essays
The Australian Nationalists Modern Critical Essays (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780195503760
ISBN-10: 0195503767
  ?

Where the wind came Poems
Where the Wind Came Poems (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780207122965
ISBN-10: 0207122962
  ?

Selected poems
Selected Poems (Other)
ISBN-13: 9780207127144
ISBN-10: 020712714X
  ?

Melbourne or the bush Essays on Australian literature and society
Melbourne or the Bush Essays on Australian Literature and Society [Perspectives in Australian literature] (Other)
ISBN-13: 9780207130007
ISBN-10: 0207130000
  ?

The Foundations of Joy [Poets of the month : Series 2] (Other)
The emotions are not skilled workers Poems
The Emotions Are Not Skilled Workers Poems (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780207141614
ISBN-10: 0207141614
  ?

Chris WallaceCrabbe reads from his own work
Chris Wallacecrabbe Reads From His Own Work [Poets on record] (Other)
ISBN-13: 9780702208768
ISBN-10: 0702208760
  ?

Three Absences in Australian Writing [Monograph / Foundation for Australian Literary Studies] (Paperback)