VALE - LES MURRAY AO
The Armenian-Australian community joins the wider Australian community in mourning the passing of legendary Australian poet, Les Murray, 80, who passed away on 29th April 2019.
Murray is one of Australia's great modern poets who featured the Armenian Genocide in his critically acclaimed book
Freddy Neptune and had his work translated into over 20 languages. He is an
Order of Australia recipient and listed as one of Australia's
100 National Living Treasures by the
National Trust of Australia.
Michael Duffy eulogised Murray in
The Sydney Morning Herald, remembering his strong references to the Armenian Genocide, which extended to speeches as well as his writings.
Duffy wrote: "In 1998 Murray published what he regarded as one of his major works and something of an autobiography, the verse novel Fredy Neptune. It is about a man who witnesses the Armenian genocide in 1915 and loses his sense of feeling. The book was well reviewed in Australia and greeted as a masterpiece by some reviewers in Europe."
Peter Alexander remembered the national poet in
"Les Murray: A Life In Progress":
"In Fredy Boettcher’s (main character in
Fredy Neptune) case, anaesthesia is brought on by the horror of seeing a group of Armenian women being burned by Turks during the Armenian genocide of 1915, and being powerless to intervene or save them. Murray drew for this scene on a terrible poem by the Armenian Atom Yarjanian, who himself died in the genocide (from poem below):
The twenty sank exhausted to the ground.
‘Get up!’ The naked swords flickered like snakes.
Then someone fetched a pitcher of kerosene.
Human justice, I spit in your face.
Without delay the twenty were anointed.
‘Dance!’ roared the mob: ‘This is sweeter than the perfumes of Arabia!’
They touched the naked women with a torch.
And there was dancing. The charred bodies rolled.
In shock I slammed my shutters like a storm,
Turned to the one gone, asked: ‘These eyes of mine—
How shall I dig them out, how shall I, how?’"
Armenians remember and honour Les Murray and thank him for bringing awareness through his art to the tragedy of genocide suffered by our Armenian ancestors.
Our sincerest condolences wife Valerie and children Christina, Daniel, Clare, Peter, and Alexander.
Rest In Peace.
