General News
14 October, 2024
Acclaimed Australian author Gerald Murnane, driven to write
I am driven to write says Goroke author in residence
On Thursday night, October 10, while most of the 300 residents of Goroke in Western Victoria slept, a few admit they set the alarm for around 10pm to watch the annual Nobel Prize winners announced because one of their own was the second favourite to win the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Goroke resident, author Gerald Murnane, has witnessed almost a decade of these October nights since he was first nominated for this prestigious award for his literary works 10 years ago.
Every year since, a whirlwind of media has descended on the tiny country town and hopeful locals have stood by with tentative preparations for a celebration just in case.
Win or not, the locals are proud of their author in residence.
Mr Murnane was pipped at the post by writer Han Kang from South Korea this year.
"I didn't watch the announcement," he said. "But I did keep an ear out for the phone, just incase."
Mr Murnane was reflective on the outcome the next day.
"It's wonderful to be recognised just by being in the running, it is sufficient for me to be the only Australian considered every year for a decade."
".....it would be nice to get the big one though," he said smiling.
Mr Murnane is used to being tracked down by the media around the time of the Nobel Prize announcements each year but he finds it strange that he has been painted as somewhat of a recluse.
"I'm not a recluse, or a hermit. I am a member of the Goroke Lions Club and the Men's Shed, I have the key to the hall and I'm in and out town most days. I'm involved in many things that go on here," he said.
"I suppose moving from bustling Melbourne to live here is hard for some people to understand."
The day before the announcement he was playing golf and when he spoke to the Wimmera Mail-Times he was was helping at the Men's Shed Open Day.
"It's my first free day in ten days, " he exclaimed.
Although he is a celebrated published writer, it wasn't always the case, his works were often described as marginal and him, a writer of a singular manner not fitting any genre and not caring if he didn't.
"I have a compulsion to write, that's the only way I can describe it," he said.
When you meet him, you get the distinct impression that there are so many words running around in his head that if he doesn't get to his 50-year-old typewriter soon and get them onto paper they'll come spilling out.
"People tell me I should get a computer for my writing because it's faster.
"Who wants to do anything faster, I don't.
"My typewriter works fine and I have my own two-finger style and it works for me," he said.
And 16 published books later he is still tapping away on the 50-year-old typewriter.
"I was never a big part of the literary circle in Melbourne and I always had this dream that one day I'd move to the country and write.
"You can write anywhere, you see, and after my wife Christine died in 2009 after a long illness, I decided to move to Goroke."
Having been a regular visitor to Goroke to visit one of their three sons prior to the move, it was an easy transition for the famed author and a decision he has never regretted.
"The community here is what I call a true community, I love it," he said.
The journey from writer to published author can be a long and frustrating one and not realised by many. This is not lost on the literary great.
"I often come across people who tell me they have written a novel or their husband has and they are so frustrated that being published remains out of reach no matter what they do.
"Well the literary pyramid is a high one and not many reach the final stage of publication," he said.
"When I hear of people's struggles to get published I think how fortunate I am not in that position."
"I consider myself very fortunate. For me there were opportunities.
"It just took the right person to read my work and decide to publish it."
Mr Murnane wrote his first fiction at 17 but it was decades before he was published when he was 35, and that works he said took 10 years to write.
But life beckoned and he had to have a paying job, he had family to support so he entered the field of education. The role opened doors for him and he moved up to lecturing fiction at a tertiary level and then university level as Senior Lecturer Deacon in Melbourne.
"For all that it offered and as much as I could contribute, my heart wasn't in it - I had to write," he said.
The 85 years old is sprightly, admits it's not as easy to get up from the floor as it once was but he is sure his mind is quicker and better than ever and he intends to keep it that way.
" I have never considered I'm too old to do anything - until just the other day. I thought I might be too old to go to the Horsham Cup but then I thought I love horse racing, so I'm going.
"I never intend to consider I'm too old for any thing after that one thought, I didn't like it."
Mr Murnane no longer writes for publication, instead he is intent on recording his archives and so far has three triple drawer filing cabinets full for publication after he and his generation are no longer here.
He writes every day, about everything that happened that day that he thinks is worth recording, so the people of Goroke may find themselves featured in a real life Murnane publication some day in the future.
He has been described as an Australian novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist and acclaimed for his distinctive prose.
The New York Times described Murnane as the greatest living English-language writer most people have ever heard of, who is regularly tipped to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Among his awards are the Patrick White Award in 1999, Melbourne Prize for Literature 2009, and the Prime Minister's literary awards in 2018.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is a Swedish literature prize that has been awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.