This groundbreaking first biography explores the contradictions at the core of Xavier Herbert's turbulent life and career (1901-1984). Charting his lifelong quest to discover the reality of his existence and to forge a larger-than-life identity, it highlights Herbert's compulsion to write and illuminates his abiding themes. Labelled at various times "ratbag" and "mug genius" as well as "master writer", Xavier Herbert led a life characterised by controversy and contradiction. His signature books, Capricornia (1938) and Poor Fellow My Country (1975), were to change the face of Australian novel writing. "Beautifully balanced, dispassionate and exhaustively researched...a revelation...An enthralling read." Laurie Clancy, ABR "Nancy Mitford once described her husband as suffering from 'galloping mythomania'. All of Xavier Herbert is in those words...he was a monster." Randolph Stow, Times Literary Supplement

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