Michael Wilding (born 1942) is a British-born writer and academic who has spent most of his career at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, 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 Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 census. The River Severn f ...

, and read English at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, where he graduated in 1963 with BA with first-class honours.

Academic career

Wilding took up an appointment as assistant lecturer at the

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 The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. 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 John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

, and

Australian literature Australian literature is the literature, written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western culture, Western history, Australia was a ...

such as by

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the con ...

William Lane William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue. Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showi ...

Christina Stead Christina Stead (17 July 190231 March 1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a me ...

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 Ross Andrew Fitzgerald is an Australian academic, historian, novelist, secularist, and political commentator. Fitzgerald is an emeritus professor in history and politics at Griffith University. He has authored or co-authored many books, inclu ...

in ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

''. He has published many novels and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

collections, 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 Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...

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 University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's ...

's ''Asian & Pacific Writing'' series, which ran from 1972 to 1982 *He was a co-founder of the publishers

Wild & Woolley Wild & Woolley is an Australian small press, small book publisher founded by Pat Woolley and Michael Wilding (writer), Michael Wilding in 1973. Woolley bought a corner tenement in Chippendale, New South Wales, Chippendale, Sydney, in 1975 for ...

, 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilding, Michael 1942 births Living people Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Literary critics of English British short story writers British literary critics Writers from Worcester, England British emigrants to Australia People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester Australian publishers (people) Academic staff of the University of Sydney