Papers of David Foster
MSS 160
Collection Title
Papers of David FosterCollection Identifier
MSS 160Inclusive date(s)
1971 to 2008Extent and Medium
Creator(s)
Category
Subject: Terms(s)
Subject: Person(s)
Collection Description
The papers of David Foster include correspondence, notes, research material, manuscript and typescript drafts, notebooks, audio cassettes and photographs. The collection documents a significant number of Foster's works, including novels, poetry, short stories, essays, radio dramas and several unpublished pieces.
Administrative / Biographical history
David Manning Foster was born on 15 May 1944 in Katoomba, New South Wales. Born in the Blue Mountains to radio comedian parents, David Manning Foster studied Science at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1967 with the University Medal for Chemistry. Three years later he received his doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the Australian National University, and spent a year as a Fellow of the National Institute of Health in the United States in 1970. Foster then worked as a senior research scientist at the Department of Medicine, University of Sydney, 1971-1972, before retiring to begin writing full-time. He has also worked as a truck driver, postal worker, labourer, prawn trawler crewman, drummer and swimming pool manager.
His novels are satirical, frequently farcical and offer a cynical view of contemporary Australian culture and its postcolonial and imperial foundations. Nine of his novels have been nominated for the Miles Franklin Award and he has won many other prestigious prizes for his novels and poetry. A double black-belt in tae kwon do, Foster is an avid reader of classical literature; an influence clearly discernible in the mythical and literary allusions that can be found in much of his work.
Foster has won many prestigious prizes for his novels and poetry including:
The Courier-Mail Book of the Year Award, 1999: winner for In the new country
FAW Australian Literature Award, 1999: joint winner for In the new country
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Single Work of Fiction, 1998: shortlisted for The glade within the grove
Miles Franklin Literary Award, 1997: winner for The Glade Within the Grove
James Joyce Foundation Suspended Sentence Award, 1996: winner for The glade within the grove
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1996: shortlisted for The glade within the grove
The Age Book of the Year Award, Fiction Prize, 1996: shortlisted for The glade within the grovee
National Book Council Award for Australian Literature, 1981: winner for Moonlite
FAW Barbara Ramsden Award for the Book of the Year, 1974: joint winner for The pure land
The Age Book of the Year Award, Imaginative Writing Prize, 1974: winner for The pure land
The Age Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year, 1974: joint winner for The pure land.
Foster's publications include:
North South West : three novellas (1973)
The pure land (1974)
The fleeing Atalanta (1975)
Escape to reality 1977, The empathy experiment (with D. K. Lyall, 1977)
Moonlite (1981)
Plumbum (1983)
Dog Rock : a postal pastoral (1985)
The adventures of Christian Rosy Cross (1986)
Testostero (1987)
The pale blue crochet coathanger cover (1988)
Hitting the wall: two novellas (1989)
Self portraits : fifteen interviews with Australian writers conducted by Hazel de Berg (ed. 1991)
Mates of Mars (1991)
Slab of Fosters (1994)
The glade within the grove (1996)
The ballad of Erinungarah (1997)
Studs and nogs : essays 1987-98 (1999)
In the new country (1999)
The land where stories end : as narrated by the angel depicted in Madonna con Bambino e due angeli by Filippo Lippi (2001)
A year of slow food : four seasons of growing and enjoying food in the Australian countryside, David and Gerda Foster ; photographs by Peter Solness (2002).
References:
AustLit : The Resource for Australian Literature, March 2003.
Acquisition Details
Scope and Content
The papers of David Foster include correspondence, notes, research material, manuscript and typescript drafts, notebooks, audio cassettes and photographs. The collection documents a significant number of Foster's works, including novels, poetry, short stories, essays, radio dramas and several unpublished pieces.
There are drafts and working papers of Foster's major works, including North South West : three novellas (1973), Escape to reality (1977), Moonlite (1981), Plumbum (1983), Dog Rock : a postal pastoral (1985), The adventures of Christian Rosy Cross (1986), Testostero (1987), The pale blue crochet coathanger cover (1988), Hitting the wall: two novellas (1989), Self portraits: fifteen interviews with Australian writers conducted by Hazel de Berg (ed. 1991), Mates of Mars (1991), The glade within the grove (1996), The ballad of Erinungarah (1997), Studs and nogs : essays 1987-98 (1999) and In the new country (1999).
The correspondence reflects Foster's extensive writing and publishing activities during the period 1971-1991. The collection includes letters regarding his work from a number of significant literary figures. Among the correspondents are Alison Broinowski, Michael Costigan, Michael Duffy, Geoffrey Dutton, Beverley Farmer, Ross Fitzgerald, Dorothy Green, Carl Harrison-Ford, Nicholas Hasluck, Nancy Keesing, Susan McKernan, Eric Rolls, Thomas Shapcott, Brian Stonier, Ian Templeman, Patrick White and Tim Winton.
System of arrangement
The series arrangement of this collection has been artificially created by Special Collections staff.
Access Restrictions
Other
This collection is partly available for research, partly restricted and partly closed.Reproduction Restrictions
Existence and Location of Orginals
Disclaimer
This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed above. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.