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Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix i(A30396 works by) (a.k.a. Robert Jones)
Born: Established: 1944 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 6 y separately published work icon The Time of Our Lives Robert Dessaix , Sydney : Brio Books , 2020 18794928 2020 multi chapter work prose

'What’s the key to the art of growing older well? Is it an art that anyone can cultivate? How should we confront dying and death in a secular age? What about sex when we’re older? What about loneliness? (And, for that matter, what about facelifts?)

'At the height of his powers in this remarkable (and often witty) book, Robert Dessaix addresses these increasingly urgent questions in inimitable prose and comes up with some surprising answers. From Java to Hobart via Berlin, Dessaix invites us to eavesdrop on his intimate, no-nonsense conversations about ageing with friends and chance acquaintances.

'Reflecting on time, religion, painting, dancing and even grandchildren, Dessaix takes us on an enlivening journey across the landscape of growing older. Riffing on writers and thinkers from Plato to Eva Hoffman, he homes in on the crucial importance of a rich inner life.

'The Time of Our Lives is a wise and timely exploration of not just the challenges but also the many possibilities of old age.' (Publication summary)

1 Cheating Time Robert Dessaix , 2017 extract prose
— Appears in: Underline , June no. 3 2017; (p. 17-19)

An extract from Robert Dessaix's The Pleasures of Leisure. (

1 Unholy Matrimony Robert Dessaix , 2014 extract autobiography (What Days Are For)
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1-2 November 2014; (p. 38)
1 8 y separately published work icon What Days Are For Robert Dessaix , North Sydney : Random House , 2014 8019105 2014 single work autobiography

'One Sunday night in Sydney, Robert Dessaix collapses in a gutter in Darlinghurst, and is helped to his hotel by a kind young man wearing a T-shirt that says FUCK YOU. What follows are weeks in hospital, tubes and cannulae puncturing his body, as he recovers from the heart attack threatening daily to kill him.

'While lying in the hospital bed, Robert chances upon Philip Larkin's poem 'Days'. What, he muses, have his days been for? What and who has he loved – and why?

'This is vintage Robert Dessaix. His often surprisingly funny recollections range over topics as eclectic as intimacy, travel, spirituality, enchantment, language and childhood, all woven through with a heightened sense of mortality. ' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Gay and Lesbian Perspectives : Dare Me! : The Life and Work of Gerald Glaskin John Burbidge , Robert Dessaix , Clayton : Monash University Publishing , 2013 9114860 2013 single work criticism

'Gerald Glaskin pushed the boundaries of acceptability in what he wrote and how he wrote it. His twenty major publications, novels, short stories, travelogues, memoirs, plays and more, tackled such taboo subjects as homosexuality, incest and parapsychology. In the aftermath of the Second World War Glaskin challenged white Australians to re-examine their attitudes to Asians and Aboriginal people, and his 1965 novel, No End to the Way, initially banned in his home country, was groundbreaking in its frank and honest portrayal of a homosexual relationship. Outside Australia, Glaskin’s books were translated into multiple languages and garnered praise from critics and readers alike. He was hailed as ‘the ace of Australian story tellers’. Yet in his home country he was and remains a virtual nonentity. Why did Australia turn its back on him? Was it his delight in provoking people? Was it his audacious, belligerent and at times overbearing manner? Was he a victim of his country’s ‘tall poppy syndrome’, or of a provincial publishing industry? This insightful biography probes the life and work of one of Australia’s most neglected writers and in so doing, gives Glaskin his proper due.' (Source: TROVE)

1 Queer and Loathing Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Monthly , September no. 82 2012; (p. 50-51)

— Review of Gaysia : Adventures in the Queer East Benjamin Law , 2012 single work prose
1 So Long, Mate Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 184-191)
1 Australia Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work essay
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 165-183)
1 Caught You! Reflections on Being Painted Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work essay
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 138-164)
1 Beauty Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work essay
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 116-137)
1 Postcard from Damascus Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work prose travel
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 83-88)
1 Vladivostok Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work prose travel
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 65-82)
1 On the Nose Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 25-32)
1 On Noise and Silence Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 9-24)
1 1 Pushing against the Dark Robert Dessaix , 2012 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 340 2012; (p. 32-40)
Robert Dessaix expresses the view that 'the act of writing is an act of resistance against the mortal condition - not mortality, but the mortal condition, and not in the sense of winning the writer immortality of the clichéd kind ... but in the sense of deepening and magnifying the lived moment while writing'.
2 8 y separately published work icon As I Was Saying Robert Dessaix , North Sydney : Random House Australia , 2012 Z1836181 2012 selected work essay autobiography prose 'As I Was Saying is a swirling conversation with the reader on everything from travel to dogs and cats, from sport and swearing to the pleasures of idleness. Punctuated at regular intervals by talks Dessaix has given on a wide range of subjects, as well as by some of his most incisive journalism, the conversation invites the reader to join a leisurely guided tour of his chamber of curiosities, featuring pieces collected all over the globe from across the centuries. Whether writing home from Vladivostock or Damascus, discussing what makes for good conversation or thinking aloud about the paintings, poems and books he loves, Dessaix always writes with an intimacy and attentiveness that beguile, entertain and make his readers eager for new discoveries.' (Publisher's blurb)
1 Secret Worlds Robert Dessaix , 2010 single work essay travel
— Appears in: The Monthly , December 2010 - January 2011 no. 63 2010; (p. 42-43)
1 Letters to an Unknown Friend Robert Dessaix , 2010 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 322 2010; (p. 36-39) Creative Nonfiction , Fall no. 46 2012; (p. 6-11) Island , Autumn no. 128 2012; (p. 45-59) As I Was Saying 2012; (p. 44-64)
Robert Dessaix provides a personal overview of the history, and role, of the essay.
1 The Long Way Home Robert Dessaix , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 17 April 2010; (p. 23)

— Review of Otherland Maria Tumarkin , 2010 single work autobiography
1 From : A Mother's Disgrace Robert Dessaix , 2009 extract autobiography (A Mother's Disgrace)
— Appears in: Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 1092-1098)
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