I would have registered the presence of Syd Harrex in my undergraduate years at Flinders University as an amiable, somewhat shambling chap with the ability to talk about poetry in a quietly enthusiastic and not at all esoteric manner. Later, as I became caught up in the thrills of being at the cutting edge of things by studying Australian and then Commonwealth writing, I would experience Syd’ s good humour and his ability to prod things along genially without entering into the rancour and polemic of academic change. On the basis of his personality and his generoushospitality, both at home and at work, Syd built up a close circle ofcommitted scholars and friends, a journal reviewing literature from across the globe, many conferences, and worked with the Adelaide Festival of Arts andhis own Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English to turn a small faculty a long way from metropolitan bustle into a lively centre of constant visits by writers and critics from India, Africa, the West Indies, Canada, South East Asia and beyond. It was probably New Zealand
History
Citation
Sharrad, P. "New Literatures "Pioneer": Syd Harrex." Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language & Literature 9 .1 (2015): 13-14.
Journal title
Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language & Literature