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Robert Dessaix

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Robert Dessaix
BornSydney
OccupationNovelist, Essayist, Journalist
NationalityAustralian
EducationNorth Sydney Boys High School
Alma materAustralian National University Moscow State University

Robert Dessaix, also known as Robert Jones, is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist.[1]

Early life and education

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Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney, and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, a merchant seaman, was already 55 when Robert was adopted.[1]

Dessaix was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and the Australian National University (ANU). He studied at Moscow State University during the early 1970s.[1]

Career

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Dessaux taught Russian studies at ANU and the University of New South Wales from 1972 to 1984. During this time he translated a number of Russian books into English in collaboration with Michael Ullman, including The Sheepskin Coat and An Absolutely Happy Village by Boris Vakhtin.[1]

Robert Jones resumed his birth name Robert Dessaix after he was awarded his doctorate.[1]

From 1985 to 1995 he presented the ABC program Books and Writing.

His first book was his autobiography, A Mother's Disgrace, which was published in 1994 by HarperCollins.[2] The manuscript was written in French, and the book concerns his journey to an alternative sexuality after twelve years of marriage and his meeting with his birth mother Yvonne. It was made into a screenplay by Ross Wilson in 1999. He never met his birth father, who was killed in an air crash shortly after the end of World War II.[3]

His first fictional work, the epistolary novel Night Letters, was published in 1996. It was translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, and Portuguese.[4]

His second novel was Corfu, published in 2001.[5]

Dessaix's long work, Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev, published in 2004,[6] defies genre characterisation, interweaving a personal travelogue with a biography of Ivan Turgenev. It takes inspiration from his doctoral thesis on Turgenev and the Soviet Union, as well as Alain de Botton's works on travel, art and philosophy.[7]

In March 2010 it was revealed that Dessaix had been refused a visa to attend the Shanghai International Literary Festival. He had declared his HIV-positive status on his application, and although the guidelines stated that HIV status would have no prejudicial effect, it was felt that it must have been the reason for the refusal because Dessaix had had no political involvement in matters concerning China.[8]

Appearances

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Robert Dessaix was on the program to appear in an event at the 2017 Brisbane Writers Festival in Brisbane, Queensland.[9]

SLNSW holdings

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Manuscripts concerning A Mother's Disgrace are in the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales, along with Night Letters.[10][11]

Awards and nominations

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Bibliography

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Novels

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  • Night Letters: A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy Edited and Annotated by Igor Miazmov (1996) ISBN 0-312-19939-2
  • Secrets (with Drusilla Modjeska and Amanda Lohrey, 1997) ISBN 9780732908638
  • Corfu (2001) ISBN 0-330-36278-X

Autobiography

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Non-fiction

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Edited

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Austlit — Robert Dessaix". Austlit. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  2. ^ "A Mother's Disgrace by Robert Dessaix". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  3. ^ ""The Good Life Podcast : Andrew Leigh in Conversation"". Andrew Leigh. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Austlit — Night Letters by Robert Dessaix". Austlit. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Corfu by Robert Dessaix". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev by Robert Dessaix". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  7. ^ ""Busting Out by Robert Dessaix"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  8. ^ Malcolm Knox (6 March 2010). "Author with HIV refused China visa". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Brisbane Writers Festival 2017". Uplit. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  10. ^ "Details". State Library of New South Wales catalogue. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Search results [Robert Dessaix]". State Library of New South Wales catalogue.
  12. ^ "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners". James Cook University. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2005 Winner". Archived from the original on 12 August 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  15. ^ "Dessaix honoured for Lifetime Achievement in Literature". Books Publishing. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
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