Book description
'This is a teasing grab-bag of thoughts, memories, anecdotes and
effronteries that achieves luxurious coherence.' -- Weekend Australian
As I Was Saying is a swirling conversation with the reader on everything
from travel to dogs and cats, from sport and swearing to the pleasures
of idleness. Punctuated at regular intervals by talks Dessaix has given
on a wide range of subjects, as well as by some of his most incisive
journalism, the conversation invites the reader to join a leisurely
guided tour of his chamber of curiosities, featuring pieces collected
all over the globe from across the centuries. Whether writing home from
Vladivostock or Damascus, discussing what makes for good conversation or
thinking aloud about the paintings, poems and books he loves, Dessaix
always writes with an intimacy and attentiveness that beguile, entertain
and make his readers eager for new discoveries. Robert Dessaix is a
writer, translator, broadcaster and occasional essayist. From 1985 to
1995, after teaching Russian language and literature for many years at
the Australian National University and the University of New South
Wales, he presented the weekly Books and Writing program on ABC Radio
National. In more recent years he has also presented radio series on
Australian public intellectuals and great travellers in history, as well
as regular programs on language. His best-known books, all translated
into several European languages, are his autobiography A Mother's
Disgrace; the novels Night Letters and Corfu; a collection of essays and
short stories (And So Forth); and the travel memoirs Twilight of Love
and Arabesques. A full-time writer since 1995, Robert Dessaix lives in
Hobart, Tasmania.
