Writing
A major theme of much of West's work was a question: when so many organizations use extreme violence towards evil ends, when and under what circumstances is it morally acceptable for their opponents to respond with violence? He stated on different occasions that his novels all deal with the same aspect of life, that is, the dilemma when sooner or later you have a situation such that nobody can tell you what to do.
He wrote with little revision. His first, longhand version was usually not very different from the final, printed version. Despite winning many prizes, being awarded honorary doctorates, his commercial success, and his skills as a story teller, he never won the acceptance of Australia’s literary clique. In the 1998 Oxford Literary History of Australia, it was stated that: "Despite his international popularity, West has been surprisingly neglected by Australian literary critics". The previous edition, edited by Dame Leonie Kramer, did not mention him at all.
West was awarded the 1959 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Devil's Advocate. In the early 1960s, he helped found the Australian Society of Authors. He presented the 1986 Playford Lecture.
In 1993 he announced that he had written his last book and a formal valedictory dinner was held in his honour. However, he found he could not retire as he had planned, and wrote a further three novels and two non-fiction books.
Read more about this topic: Morris West
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