Correspondence

Component identifier:

Series 1

Content Summary:

The correspondence consists of a mix of personal (mostly with literary associates or admirers), business and publishers' letters and sundry requests to speak at or attend functions. The literary correspondence is exceptionally rich, and includes letters of several pages discoursing on creative techniques or the literary scene. The most prolific writer in this regard is Alan Gould, who often includes his latest writings. A number of the letters are handwritten, including many by authors who would be expected to make great use of typewriters or word-processors. Postcards and greeting cards are usually "value-added", in that the writer pens more than a brief greeting.

Altogether there is something in the region of 1,875 pieces of correspondence, being inward letters, a few outward letters, postcards and greeting cards. There is only a handful of copies of letters by Murray or his wife. These appear to have been kept for their significance. Included is a letter by Murray explaining the background to "High River".

Apart from publishers' correspondence, invitations to speak/write/attend, and the literary discussions of work in progress or other writers, topics covered in the correspondence include: the trouble at Angus and Robertson and retrenchments (1989); Murray's clinical depression and public reaction to Rosemary Sorensen's article on it; reactions to Murray's work, for example Idyll wheel and Daylight moon; congratulations on his honorary doctorate and Order of Australia; Catholicism, family history, a film about Murray produced by Don Featherstone, and a translation of his poems into Hebrew. Below is a list of the major correspondents.

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