Peter Goldsworthy

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For the Chorley Conservative Councillor, see Peter Goldsworthy (Councillor).

Peter Goldsworthy (born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti.

Goldsworthy has been described in A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Australian Poetry as "one of the most skilled and satisfying poets in Australia".[1]

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[edit] Life

Goldsworthy was born in Minlaton, South Australia, and grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin in the Northern Territory.[2] He graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1974, but, with his poetry being published in Westerly and the Friendly Street Poetry Reader, he started dividing his working time equally between general practice and writing.[2][3]

[edit] Writing career

Goldsworthy's novels have sold over a quarter million copies, and, with his poetry and short stories, have been translated into many European and Asian languages.[2]

[edit] Novels

His first novel Maestro was reissued as part of the Angus & Robertson Australian Classics series, and was voted one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time by members of the Australian Society of Authors.

[edit] Poetry and short stories

His New Selected Poems were published in Australia and the UK in 2001; and his Collected Stories appeared in Australia in 2004.

The Poetry Archive describes his poetry as follows:

"There's a pressing sense of mortality in his work and a desire to ask the big questions, even as he satirises them. Drawn to the discipline of science, Goldsworthy's poems are full of the language of the laboratory - matter, evidence, elements, chemicals - the stuff we are made of, but at the same time frustrated by these limitations into asking what else we might be. He's interested in 'The Dark Side of the Head', the things we can only know in flashes, like glimpsing a skink, but he also retains a rationalist's scepticism of the ecstatic - that "thoughtlessly exquisite" evening sky in 'Sunset' won't fool him into rapture".[4]

The Australian expatriate writer, Clive James, comments that Goldsworthy's poetry is often seen as a sideline, but argues that it is "at the centre of his achievement". He writes:

"His precise wit operates on every level, from the sonic (a concealed dove really does say hidden here, hidden here) to the conceptual (the human body really is packed tight like an attempt on the record of filling a Mini). The general impression is of a fastidious insistence that the particular comes first, and any general comment that follows had better be particular too."[5]

[edit] Libretti

Goldsworthy also writes opera libretti. He wrote the libretti for the Richard Mills operas, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Batavia, the latter winning Mills and Goldsworthy the 2002 Robert Helpmann Awards for Best Opera and Best New Australian Work. Its Sydney premiere at the Sydney Opera House on 19 August 2006 was conducted by the composer and attended by the librettist.

[edit] Adaptations of his works

Goldsworthy's novel Maestro is currently in development as a movie, as are the novels Honk If You are Jesus, Three Dog Night and Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam.

His novels Wish, Honk If You Are Jesus, and Three Dog Night are also being adapted for the stage. Honk, was premiered by the State Theatre of South Australia in its 2006 season. It won the 2006 Ruby Award for Best New Work, and the 2006 Advertiser Oscart Award for Best Play.

Goldsworthy's poetry has been set to music by leading Australian composers including Graeme Koehne, Richard Mills, and Matthew Hindson.

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Novels

[edit] Poetry collections

  • Readings from Ecclesiastes, (1982}
  • This Goes with That: Seelcted Poems 1970-1990, (1991}
  • After the Ball, (1992}
  • If, Then: Poems and Songs, (1996)
  • New Selected Poems (2001)
  • Tattered Joys (2002)

[edit] Short story collections

  • Archipelagoes (1982)
  • Zooing (1986)
  • Bleak Rooms (1988)
  • Little Deaths (1993)
  • The List of All Answers (2004)

[edit] Collected works

  • Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (1999)

[edit] Adaptations

  • Maestro - film based on the novel in preproduction

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ cited by The Poetry Archive
  2. ^ a b c Brief bio in Penguin Edition (2003) of Three Dog Night
  3. ^ AusLit: The Resource for Australian Literature Goldsworthy, Peter
  4. ^ The Poetry Archive
  5. ^ James, Clive

[edit] References

Languages