Frank Moorhouse: Strange paths (Matthew Lamb, Knopf)

Frank Moorhouse worked relentlessly to refine both his writing and his understanding of himself. The first volume of Matthew Lamb’s biography of Moorhouse—who passed away last year at 83—is a valuable homage to the writer and the man. Lamb begins Frank Moorhouse: Strange paths before the author’s birth, making this biography as much about the Australian literary landscape Moorhouse would shape as it is about Moorhouse himself. A master of the short story, a novelist and a screenwriter, Moorhouse perfects the ‘discontinuous narrative’ and significantly impacts the Australian literary scene. Lamb makes the connections clear between Moorhouse’s early life and what it led him to create. A deep thinker, Moorhouse was also an activist, philosopher and social pioneer. In particular, his frank accounts of his own sexuality and gender expression helped pave the way for greater acceptance of the queer community. He fought for copyright protection for Australian writers and against the censorship that cut off Australia from the rest of the world. The biography also documents Moorhouse’s time as a member of the ‘Sydney Push’, a libertarian intellectual subculture. Lamb somehow allows an intimacy between Moorhouse and the reader while holding his subject at an objective distance. Lamb does justice to an extraordinary life. Writers will relish Moorhouse’s story—and will eagerly anticipate the forthcoming second volume. For readers who enjoy literary biographies, such as David Marr’s Patrick White: A life.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Becca Whitehead is a features and content writer based in Naarm-Melbourne. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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