Once an Australian: Journeys with Barrie Humphries, Clive James, Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes Book

The four Australians featured in this book--Barry Humphries, Clive James, Germaine Greer, and Robert Hughes--are all writers and performers who decided to leave their native land in the late 1950s or early 1960s and to pursue their brilliant careers abroad. Ian Britain's profiles of their careers concentrate on the reasons for their expatriatism and consider what aspects of their Australian identity they have retained. His is the first detailed study of this generation of Australian expatriates, and richly combines elements of biography, cultural criticism and social history. The profiles are based on a wide range of their subjects' writings and public pronouncements in the press, or on radio and television, stretching back over nearly half a century. These sources, the author maintains, help to illuminate the inner life and abiding preoccupations of this famous foursome more effectively than personal interviews with them As well as charting the life and work of four vibrant individuals, Britain's book suggests what is distinctive about them as a generational group, and reflects on how far they may be seen as the "last expatriates"--the most vivid flowers of a dying breed.Read More