Dying: A Memoir

Donald Horne, Myfwanwy Horne

Penguin Group Australia, Mar 2, 2009 - Biography & Autobiography - 276 pages

This unique book is the last work of one of Australia's most respected and influential thinkers.  On learning that his illness was terminal, Donald Horne began dictating his experiences of dying, and his resulting journal is full of courage, honesty, insight and humour.  Ever the intellectual, he also recorded his last thoughts on some of the big human questions; faith and regret, the uses of art, the rewards of the engaged mind.  And on contemporary dilemmas such as the Iraq War, anti-Americanism and the meaning of democracy.  These essays have been refined by his wife and long-time editor, Myfanwy, who has also written her own inspirational account of Donald's final weeks.

Far from being morbid, Dying is a book that sings with life.  Donald Horne's memories of his well-lived years sit alongside his unflinching view of their end, and the whole is uplifted by his willingness to laugh at human foibles, his own included.

PRAISE FOR DYING: A MEMOIR

'This book is a love story where the decades have not dulled two loves' devotion.'
Craig Sherbourne, Australian Literary Review

'Full of Horne's self-deprecating wit and keen intellect.  For people suffering from terminal illnesses and their loved ones this would be a particularly helpful memoir,'
Sue Bond, Courier-Mail

'Must read'
Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

About the author

Donald Horne has written more than twenty books, including works of social and cultural critique, history, novels, memoirs and satire, and has contributed to or edited a further twenty. His books include The Lucky Country, Looking for Leadership, The Story of the Australian People, Into the Open, His Excellency's Pleasureand The Avenue of the Fair Go. He is an emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales, where he taught for fifteen years, and was chancellor of the University of Canberra. He has chaired a number of cultural organisations, including the Australia Council, and served on several bodies concerned with constitutional reform, including the Australian Constitutional Commission. He was twice editor of The Bulletin; editor of The Observer and Quadrant; and contributing editor of Newsweek International. He has also written for many journals and newspapers in Australia, Britain, Europe and the United States. He is an Officer of the Order of Australia. His book 10 Steps to a More Tolerant Australiawas published to critical acclaim in 2003. He died in 2005 Myfanwy Horne, who also writes as Myfanwy Gollan, was born in Newcastle, NSW in 1933. She trained as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald and has contributed to newspapers, magazines and books as a reviewer, columnist and social commentator. She was consulting editor for all her husband's published work, starting with The Lucky Country in 1964. She has been involved pro bono in a number of cultural and social projects, including producing the photographic exhibition, The Struggle for Australian Democracy 1788 to the Present, which toured Australia in the late 1970s.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Dying: A Memoir
• Authors: Donald Horne, Myfwanwy Horne
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin Group Australia, 2009
• ISBN: 0143007785, 9780143007784
• Length: 276 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / General; Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs