Peter Cowan interviewed by Stuart Reid for the Battye Library collection [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 2592831
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Cowan, Peter, 1914-2002, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 1991 Oct. 4-1992 Aug. 3
- 25 sound tape reels (ca. 689 min.) ; 7 in.
- Series:
- Battye Library collection.
- Summary:
-
Cowan reflects on his life as a writer, and his long relationship with the Dept. of English, Univ. of Western Australia. He discusses his family and education; farm labouring; matriculation studies; book censorship 1920s-1950s; English literature syllabus at UWA; university studies and lecturers; first stories; technique; novel form; wife Edith; non-marital relationships; teaching at Guilford Grammar; naive political isolation in Perth; Angry Penguins; artistic flowering in Australia during WWII; Ern Malley affair; creative pulse in Melbourne; criticism of radical art of the period; Tucker, Nolan; rural tradition in his writing; Max Harris; Ern Malley's Journal; return to Rockingham in 1950s; teaching under Professor Edwards at UWA; Scotch College; working in wheat bins; taboo literary subjects of 1950s; writing first novel; environmental articles for the Sunday Independent; Butler's Swamp; affinity with the land; Australian literature at universities 1940s-1960s; study leave in England; reviews; experimenting with form; dialogue; the unsaid; characters; short story collections; Fremantle Arts Centre Press; problems faced by WA writers; historical writing; Westerly; changes in students and teaching at UWA; aging; quiz show; interests.
- Notes:
-
- The J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History is part of the State Library of Western Australia.
- Part of a collection of oral history interviews produced by a joint project between the National Library of Australia and the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History.
- Recorded at the home of Peter Cowan, Perth between 4 October 1991 and 3 August 1992.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-217140734
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Transcript (typescript, 133 leaves [8] leaves of plates) + index (3 leaves) and timed summary available.
- Subject:
-
- Cowan, Peter, 1914-2002 -- Interviews
- University of Western Australia. Department of English
- Angry Penguins
- Authors, Australian -- Western Australia -- Interviews
- College teachers -- Western Australia -- Interviews
- Censorship -- Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Country life in literature
- Australia -- Intellectual life -- 20th century
- Other authors/contributors:
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Battye Library collection.
This collection contains 50 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2062 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1992
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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