Robert Dessaix | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1944 (1944) (age 81) Sydney |
| Occupation | Novelist, essayist, journalist |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | North Sydney Boys High School |
| Alma mater | Australian National UniversityMoscow State University |
| Website | |
| robertdessaix.au | |
Robert Dessaix (born 1944),[1] also known asRobert Jones, is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist.[2]
Robert Dessaix was born inSydney, and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, amerchant seaman, was already 55 when Robert was adopted.[2]
Dessaix was educated atNorth Sydney Boys High School and theAustralian National University (ANU). He studied atMoscow State University during the early 1970s.[2]
Dessaix taught Russian studies at ANU and theUniversity of New South Wales from 1972 to 1984. During this time he translated a number of Russian books into English in collaboration withMichael T. Ullman, includingThe Sheepskin Coat andAn Absolutely Happy Village byBoris Vakhtin [ru].[2]
Robert Jones resumed his birth name Robert Dessaix after he was awarded hisdoctorate.[2]
From 1985 to 1995 he presented theABC programBooks and Writing.
His first book was hisautobiography,A Mother's Disgrace, which was published in 1994 byHarperCollins.[3] The manuscript was written in French, and the book concerns his journey to an alternative sexuality after twelve years of marriage and his meeting with his birth mother Yvonne. It was made into a screenplay by Ross Wilson in 1999. He never met his birth father, who was killed in an air crash shortly after the end of World War II.[4]
His first fictional work, theepistolary novelNight Letters, was published in 1996. It was translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, and Portuguese.[5]
Manuscripts concerningA Mother's Disgrace are in the Mitchell Library of theState Library of New South Wales, along withNight Letters.[6]
His second novel wasCorfu, published in 2001.[7]
Dessaix's long work,Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev, published in 2004,[8] defies genre characterisation, interweaving a personal travelogue with a biography ofIvan Turgenev. It takes inspiration from hisdoctoral thesis on Turgenev and theSoviet Union, as well asAlain de Botton's works on travel, art and philosophy.[9]
In March 2010 it was revealed that Dessaix had been refused a visa to attend theShanghai International Literary Festival. He had declared hisHIV-positive status on his application, and although the guidelines stated that HIV status would have no prejudicial effect, it was felt that it must have been the reason for the refusal because Dessaix had had no political involvement in matters concerning China.[10]
He published a further memoir,Chameleon: A Memoir of Art, Travel, Ideas and Love, in 2025.[11]
