Coming of Age in Australia: 1984 Boyer Lectures

A series of four lectures Hazzard delivered in Sydney, and published under the general listed title. The essay talks are: An Air of Disbelief/ Into The Mainstream/ Australia and the Menace of Eternal Youth/ To Live Without an Enemy. The lectures are dedicated to Elizabeth Harrower. An uncommon and important Hazzard item.

Shirley Hazzard was born in Australia, and as a child travelled the world due to her parents’ diplomatic postings. At age 16, she began working for British Combined Intelligence Services in Hong Kong, monitoring civil war in China. After her family moved to New York City, she worked for several years as a typist at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

After leaving this post, she became a full-time writer and a passionate opponent of the United Nations, the subject of several of her nonfiction books.

Known for elegant and controlled writing, Hazzard’s works of fiction include five novels. Her last novel, The Great Fire, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.