Michael Wilding (writer)
{{Short description|British-born writer and academic}}
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File:Michael Wilding.jpg (1991)]]
Michael Wilding (born 1942) is a British-born writer and academic who has spent most of his career at the University of Sydney, where he has been an emeritus professor in English and Australian literature since 2002.
Early life and education
Michael Wilding was born in 1942 in Worcester, England, and read English at Oxford University, where he graduated in 1963 with BA with first-class honours.{{cite web | title=Michael Wilding | website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories | date=27 November 2019 | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A16165 | access-date=18 February 2021}}
Academic career
Wilding took up an appointment as assistant lecturer at the University of Sydney in 1963, where he stayed for three years. He returned to England in 1967, where he attained his M.A., and took up a lectureship at the University of Birmingham.
In 1969 he took up a post as senior lecturer at Sydney University, then becoming Reader in English from 1973 to 1992. He received the degree of D. Litt. from the University of Sydney in 1993. In 1993 he was appointed Professor of English and Australian Literature at Sydney, a position he held until his retirement in 2000, after which he was made professor emeritus.
His scholarly work focused especially on 17th-century and early 18th-century English literature, such as by the poet John Milton, and Australian literature such as by Marcus Clarke, William Lane, Christina Stead).
Writing career
He was a creative writer in the "new writing" movement, whose members were influential in revitalising Australian literature. His work was later described as "exciting and innovative" by Ross Fitzgerald in The Australian.Ross Fitzgerald, [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/michael-wilding-looks-back-with-infectious-amusement/news-story/72fc3e843ff513a183e20285a2490eba "Michael Wilding looks back with infectious amusement"], The Australian, 9 April 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2017. (Subscribers only.)
He has published many novels and short story collections,{{Cite web |title=Michael Wilding |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog?per_page=100&q=%22Wilding%2C+Michael%2C+1942-%22&search_field=author |access-date=28 April 2024 |website=National Library catalogue}} and has had his stories published widely in anthologies. His most widely referenced work has been the short story magazine, Tabloid Story, which he co-founded with Frank Moorhouse and Carmel Kelly in 1972 and which ran for 33 issues, until 1974.
Publishing
- Wilding was a founding editor of the University of Queensland Press's Asian & Pacific Writing series,{{cite web | title=Michael Wilding | website=Giramondo Publishing | url=https://giramondopublishing.com/authors/michael-wilding/ | access-date=4 October 2022}} which ran from 1972 to 1982{{cite web | last=Mihardja | first=Achdiat K. | title=Asian and Pacific Writing (University of Queensland Press) - Book Series List | website=Publishing History | date=2 November 2018 | url=https://www.publishinghistory.com/asian-and-pacific-writing-uqp.html | access-date=4 October 2022}}
- He was a co-founder of the publishers Wild & Woolley, with Pat Woolley.
Reception
A critical study of his work, Michael Wilding and the Fiction of Instant Experience by Don Graham, was published in 2013.{{Citation | author1=Graham, Don | title=Michael Wilding and the Fiction of Instant Experience: Stories, Novels, and Memoirs, 1963-2012 | publication-date=2013 | publisher=Teneo Press | isbn=978-1-934844-95-3}}
References
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Category:Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford
Category:Literary critics of English
Category:British short story writers
Category:British literary critics
Category:Writers from Worcester, England
Category:British emigrants to Australia
Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester