HERGENHAN, L(aurence) T(homas) 1931-(Laurie Hergenhan)

PERSONAL: Born 1931, in Bega, New South Wales, Australia; son of John George (a farmer) and Flora (a nurse; maiden name, Haerse) Hergenhan; married Pamela Coates (a psychologist and painter); children: Susanne, Elizabeth, Catherine. Education: University of Sydney, M.A., 1953, diploma in education, 1957; University of London, Ph.D., 1960.

ADDRESSES: Home—57 Seventh Ave., St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4067, Australia. Office—c/o Department of English, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, lecturer, 1960-65, senior lecturer, 1966-68, reader in English, 1969-70; University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, reader, 1971-93, professor of English, 1993-95, emeritus professor, 1996—. Foundation director of Australian Studies Centre, 1979-82, and member of Australian Studies Council.

MEMBER: Australian Society of Authors, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Queensland Writers' Centre (life member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Carnegie travel grant, 1968; grant from Australian Literature Board, 1975; Fulbright grant, 1986; A. A. Phillips Award, Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 1992; Order of Australia, for contribution to the study of Australian literature and education.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) George Meredith, Harry Richmond, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1970.

(Editor) A Colonial City: High and Low Life, Selected Journalism of Marcus Clarke, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1972.

UNDER NAME LAURIE HERGENHAN

Unnatural Lives: Studies in Australian Fiction about the Convicts, from James Tucker to Patrick White, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1983, published as Unnatural Lives: Studies in Australian Convict Fiction, 1993.

(Editor and author of introduction) The Australian Short Story: An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1986, revised edition published as The Australian Short Story: A Collection, 1890s-1990s, 1992.

(General editor) The Penguin New Literary History of Australia, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

(Editor, with Martin Duwell) The ALS Guide to Australian Writers: A Bibliography 1963-1990, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1993.

(Editor, with Irmtraud Petersson) Changing Places: Australian Writers in Europe, 1960s-1990s, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1994.

No Casual Traveller: Hartley Grattan and Australia—U.S. Connections, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1995.

(Editor, with Frances De Groen) Xavier Herbert: Letters, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 2002.

General editor of "Australian Authors Series," University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia). Editor of Australian Literary Studies, 1963—.

SIDELIGHTS: L. T. Hergenhan once told CA: "Postcolonial literary history involves the recuperation and the construction of a past which helps to form a distinctive cultural tradition. My interest in such history, especially in relation to Australia, developed from an interest in nineteenth-century English literature and from my editing the pioneering academic journal Australian Literary Studies. An interest in prison novels stimulated a study of Australian novels about convicts. A recurrent metaphor in Australian fiction, imprisonment is often linked with themes of colonialism, exile, and the desire for independence. Convictism and pioneering are the two most popular themes of Australian fiction and are often linked within novels.

"I am also interested in literary forms, including colonial journalism, inspired by Marcus Clarke. It was an interest in the short story that prompted me to edit an anthology of Australian stories written between the 1890s and the 1980s. Editing and bibliography, as well as criticism, are also among my main concerns.

"My Carnegie- and Fulbright-sponsored trips to the United States contributed to my writing the biography of American author/journalist and pioneer of Australian studies in the United States, C. Hartley Grattan."

Hergenhan recently added: "Since retirement I have written memoirs, reminiscences, stories, poems, and travel pieces, enjoying the freedom from constraints of academic writing."