Brian Elliott (writer)
{{Short description|Australian writer and academic (1910–1991)}}
Brian Robinson Elliott {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM|FAHA}} (11 April 1910 – 29 August 1991){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122381359 |title=LitBits |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=65 |issue=20,595 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |author=Robert Hefner |date=1 September 1991 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=25 |via=National Library of Australia}} was a writer and academic in Adelaide, South Australia, hailed as the first academic to regard Australian literature as a worthy field of study.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120907149 |title=Review: Penguin New Literary History of Australia |author=Ralph Elliott |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=63 |issue=19,471 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=28 January 1989 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Career
Elliott was born in Adelaide, the younger son of Arthur J. Elliott of Parkside, South Australia. He was educated at Victor Harbor and matriculated at Unley High School.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97204826 |title=Locals |newspaper=The Southern Argus |volume=LXXV |issue=4,240 |location=South Australia |date=5 December 1929 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} He received his BA in English and French at the University of Adelaide in 1931.{{Cite web |last=Elliott |first=Ralph |date=1991 |title=Brian Robinson Elliott (1910–1991) |url=http://humanities.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/AAH-Obit-Elliott-1991.pdf |access-date=2023-02-24 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities}} He was involved in amateur theatre as producer, with the Players' Guild{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58632771 |title=From Rosalind's Notebook |newspaper=The Mail (Adelaide) |volume=22 |issue=1,136 |location=South Australia |date=3 March 1934 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}} and WEA Little Theatre.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131205616 |title=The Amateur Theatre |newspaper=The News |volume=XXVIII |issue=4,285 |location=South Australia |date=17 April 1937 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Elliott taught English at two senior high schools over six years, during which time his thesis was accepted for qualification as Master of Arts. He was appointed temporary assistant in English at the University of Western Australia in 1938.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41665522 |title=University Opens Today |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=54 |issue=16,127 |location=Western Australia |date=7 March 1938 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Elliott was appointed lecturer in English at the University of Adelaide in 1941. He was appointed reader in Australian literature in 1961, a post he held until 1975.
He is reputedly the first critic to suspect the Ern Malley papers of being a hoax{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=Second |editor1=W. H. Wilde |editor2=Joy W. Hooton |editor3=Barry Andrews |isbn=019553381X}} and was called as an expert witness in the trial.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205993048 |title=Angry Penguins Prosecution |newspaper=The Age |issue=27,908 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 September 1944 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Mapped but Not Known: The Australian Landscape of the Imagination was compiled by P. Robin Eaden and F. H. "Tim" Mares presented to Elliott on 11 April 1985, marking his 75th birthday, published 1986.
Honours and recognition
Elliott was a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was presented with the honorary award, Doctor of the University of Adelaide, following his retirement in 1975. In the 1976 Australia Day Honours he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.{{Cite web |title=Dr Brian Robinson Elliott |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869913 |access-date=2023-02-23 |website=It's an Honour}}
Works
- James Hardy Vaux (1944 essay)
- Leviathan's Inch (1946 novel)
- Singing to the Cattle (1947 essay){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43751743 |title=Reviews of New Books |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |volume=90 |issue=27850 |location=South Australia |date=10 January 1948 |access-date=12 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
- Coast to Coast (ed., 1948)
- Marcus Clarke (1958 biography)
- The Landscape of Australian Poetry (1967 criticism)
- Bards in the Wilderness (ed., 1970)
- Adam Lindsay Gordon (ed., 1973)
- The Jindyworobaks (ed., 1979)
References
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Category:20th-century Australian male writers
Category:Members of the Order of Australia
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Category:University of Adelaide alumni